Stellantis Offering 10 Years of Free Connected Services, Deal or Steal? Subscription fatigue appears to be reaching its zenith and select automakers seem to have noticed. Stellantis, which owns Jeep, Ram, Dodge, and Chrysler, has announced that it will soon be making numerous connected services free for 10 years. Free trials are nothing new. In fact, they’re an essential component in helping automakers rationalize the pivot to connected features. Nobody would want to pay for formerly standard equipment as part of recurring fees. By making them temporarily free, automakers can avoid consumer backlash while also normalizing the subscription trend. As a convenient byproduct, the trial phase also lets the customer know what they’re missing once it lapses — encouraging the likelihood that they’ll re-open their wallets to get those services back. But those free periods typically don’t last more than a year or three, making Stellantis’ 10-year grace period rather unique. According to the automaker, the plan is to update the “Connect One” connected services package to incorporate more features and a longer grace period. This will include things like remote start, remote entry, over-the-air (OTA) software updates, service scheduling, vehicle health reports, remote recall alerts, automatic emergency calling, and several vehicle apps available via the in-vehicle marketplace (e.g. games). However, the brunt of that will still be tied to using a connected phone app (above) and should eventually default to you having to pay a monthly subscription. That creates some privacy concerns and questions about how long these features will be maintained. As automakers have pivoted increasingly toward software-defined vehicles, they’ve also created a situation where those systems need to be supported to continue functioning. Based upon what we’ve seen from other industries, and are starting to see from the automotive sector, there may come a time when the