An airbag vest that only works if your subscription is paid up...

[CYYJ]

Just when you think you have "heard it all", something like this comes along.

The article is at the Jalopnik website, here's the link:

This Dystopian Biker Airbag Crash Vest Only Saves Your Ass If Your Subscription Is Paid Up

Michael

 

[Capt_Gruuvy]

My power company works the same way .... so does my AutoCAD subscription... and my Office365 ....

 

[Erdoc48]

Yes, I want my vest to work right out of the package. It is up to me to remember to connect the tether, but again, up to me...

Maybe I should, but I also don’t trust those with the accelerometer to determine inflation. KISS.

 

[st11ray]

Just make the price include the subscription. $800 and it always works, for the life of the vest. People already pay $600 to over $1k for jackets.

 

[Gerhard]

I can see a lawsuit involving cc error and a nonfunctional vest. Credit card statements don't have the number of errors they had in the past but they still happen. What if you are outside cell service area during it's update window? I can't imagine owning a car with subscriptions to enable airbags, abs brakes, blindspot warning etc.

 

[Jeff F]

The subscription is just an option. Riders can turn it off and stop paying when they're not riding for extended periods.

You can still buy it outright. Same price as all the other guys.

 

[SFAlan]

If they give a week of service after a decline, that addresses the concern of it working when you need it, provided you're diligent to respond to their non-payment notifications. The comparison to auto safety isn't apples-to-apples since the federal govt doesn't mandate air bags for motorcycles or require riders to have air-protected jackets. Riders who only get to ride a few months of the year might appreciate a lower up-front cost with the ability to activate the service during those few months that they can ride.

 

[rwthomas1]

Yeah, nah. Klim can stuff it, that ain't for me. Absurd that the functioning of a piece of safety gear is based on bilking me monthly for the privilege of owning their product. Now I can hear the arguments that there are plenty of other monthly services we pay for for them to work. And that is the crux of it. There is NO WAY, NONE, that this item requires an internet connection to function correctly. At the time of an accident event, there is no way an internet connection will play ANY part of the deployment. It simply isn't fast enough, or responsive enough, to do anything in the milliseconds of the required response. This in not true in a music streaming service, or a software service, or utility service. Klim marketing dept should be fired, as hearing this, it certainly doesn't make me think that the company has the best interests of riders in mind.

RT

 

[st11ray]

If they give a week of service after a decline, that addresses the concern of it working when you need it, provided you're diligent to respond to their non-payment notifications. The comparison to auto safety isn't apples-to-apples since the federal govt doesn't mandate air bags for motorcycles or require riders to have air-protected jackets. Riders who only get to ride a few months of the year might appreciate a lower up-front cost with the ability to activate the service during those few months that they can ride.

I don't see riders that ride just a few months as the target buyer of this. I would guess that most people who are going to drop $400 on a vest to go under their $800 jacket are pretty serious riders and would gladly pay the $12 a month whether they are riding or not. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me at all if most of the riders that buy this don't just pay the full $800 upfront for the lifetime subscription.

 

[st11ray]

Oh yeah, I believe it is also a CE certified back protector so it still works a little bit even when it's not activated.

 

[Bmacleod]

This seems like another way of promoting perceived value. Airbags are expensive and this is a way of trying to entice buyers who may be leery of a big cash outlay. So many places going with this business model. I am quite surprised a company would go with this model on a safety item such as this, only because of the litigation happy times we live in, but not surprised at all from a marketing standpoint. They are sure putting a lot of faith in the technology. This certainly isnt for me, but I can see them appealing to some, possibly many riders, looking to save a buck

 

[Gerhard]

I use to purchase Adobe Photoshop every second release from 2003 to 2014 or so then they switched to a subscription model and I am still using that version today. I just didn’t want to be forced into paying monthly for something I felt I owned, even if it was just the license to use that I actually owned. I probably have a mental block preventing me from subscribing. I do pay monthly for Apple Music and cloud services so I do pay some subscriptions.

 

[dduelin]

You are basically renting it and like a rental property you aren’t evicted the hour and moment the rent is late. You have a responsibility to keep the account current like so many modern services provided to us.

 

[bdalameda]

I have a Klim AI1 Airbag vest. There are two ways to purchase the system. It's pretty simple, the vest itself is 399.00 without any In & Motion "Black Box" to operate it. You can choose the subscription method and pay 12.00 a month and the box is monitored and updated with new algorithms as they become available. All the In&Motion boxes that are subscribed to are monitored for deployments and the data is used to improve the systems ongoing. The Box is not only updated it will be replaced and updated with newer technology as it becomes available or replaced if damaged.

The second method is an outright purchase of the In& Motion box for 399.00. This makes you the owner of it and it operates without needing a subscription but they will update for 2 years without a subscription. If you buy the box along with the vest it is 800.00 total which is inline with most non-tethered systems. They will not simply stop it from operating if you have a credit card issue without notifying you first.

I recently had an update pushed out for my unit which included a new Adventure riding setup for offroad and trail riding. They also have special programs for race track use etc. that changes the deployment algorithms to suit different riding scenarios.

Previously I had a Motoair airbag tethered vest. I kept forgetting to attach the tether when stopping for fuel etc. and found it annoying and restricting when riding offroad so I decided to get an autonomous system. There are quite a few scenarios where the tethered systems did not function especially if you fall and stay with the bike or are entagled with it. The autonomous sytems are also proven to deploy much more rapidly than the tethered systems because the deployment starts immediately when the crash is sensed rather than waiting until the tether tensions up and pulls the valve.

I am very happy with my Klim system, it is comfortable and not restrictive.

Dan

 

[Al st1100]

so here is how it works ?? Sensors sense a crash, makes a 5g connection and checks if your paid up. A office worker in India verifies your paid. Relays back to your phone, then your phone instructs the bag to blow while your in the ambulance. I always thought this would happen with an airbag

 

[rwthomas1]

I have a Klim AI1 Airbag vest. There are two ways to purchase the system. It's pretty simple, the vest itself is 399.00 without any In & Motion "Black Box" to operate it. You can choose the subscription method and pay 12.00 a month and the box is monitored and updated with new algorithms as they become available. All the In&Motion boxes that are subscribed to are monitored for deployments and the data is used to improve the systems ongoing. The Box is not only updated it will be replaced and updated with newer technology as it becomes available or replaced if damaged.

The second method is an outright purchase of the In& Motion box for 399.00. This makes you the owner of it and it operates without needing a subscription but they will update for 2 years without a subscription. If you buy the box along with the vest it is 800.00 total which is inline with most non-tethered systems. They will not simply stop it from operating if you have a credit card issue without notifying you first.

I recently had an update pushed out for my unit which included a new Adventure riding setup for offroad and trail riding. They also have special programs for race track use etc. that changes the deployment algorithms to suit different riding scenarios.

Previously I had a Motoair airbag tethered vest. I kept forgetting to attach the tether when stopping for fuel etc. and found it annoying and restricting when riding offroad so I decided to get an autonomous system. There are quite a few scenarios where the tethered systems did not function especially if you fall and stay with the bike or are entagled with it. The autonomous sytems are also proven to deploy much more rapidly than the tethered systems because the deployment starts immediately when the crash is sensed rather than waiting until the tether tensions up and pulls the valve.

I am very happy with my Klim system, it is comfortable and not restrictive.

Dan

OK, what you are describing is a bit different than what the article is stating. Basically, you are going to pay $800 up front, OR $400 + $12/mo, or $144yr until when? The $800 outright buyer is good for 2yrs, then I assume has to pay for an update? Is the update a requirement, I assume the vest will work as intended just not with the latest software? If the $400 down and monthly buyer stops paying, the vest shuts off after a grace period. Is there ever a point where the monthly payment buyer has reached a threshold where they can stop paying, the vest will work, just not with the latest software, like the outright purchase? My guess is right around the 34-36 month mark.....

RT

 

[bdalameda]

I seem to remember that after a period of time paying the subscription you can buy the box for about 120.00. It would be your choice to continue the subscription or just purchase it at a discount. If you buy it it would remain at the last updated data.

 

[rwthomas1]

I seem to remember that after a period of time paying the subscription you can buy the box for about 120.00. It would be your choice to continue the subscription or just purchase it at a discount. If you buy it it would remain at the last updated data.

What they are basically doing is leasing the vest. Money down, monthly, and a buyout at the end. It'll be more expensive that way for sure, but people like monthly chains, er, payments....

RT

 

[wjbertrand]

Dumbest idea ever. According the article, if I read it correctly, determination whether to deploy the bag not only depends on the subscription but an active connection via your phone to the internet where the active crash data is sent and a calculation occurs, then a signal back to deploy or not based on the data. So that seems to mean it would not deploy in any area without a cell connection and even with a connection the back and forth handling of the data would seem to add time to the decision to deploy. I can see Klim opening themselves to a bunch of lawsuits from injuries sustained that might have been avoidable because the bags did not deployed or did not deploy in time. What if their site is down?

You can buy the product outright without the on-going subscription but that is double the price, but does it still depend on an internet connection to deploy or not?

 

[caldercay]

Heck, there's a mini dishwasher that eventually won't wash, unless you buy the manufacturer's detergent cartridges. A hacker fixed that : )

Hardware Hacker Breaks the DRM on a Mini Dishwasher

In what amounts to a very clever bit of hardware hacking, developer dekuNukem has detailed a methodology for refilling the DRM-protected detergent cassettes for a $486 portable dishwasher called Bob. Trust me, it’s more interesting than it sounds.

gizmodo.com