Ford Patent Would Allow Car to Repossess Itself If You Miss Payments

A patent filed by Ford describes Orwellian technology that enables a leasing company to disable car features if you miss payments.

However, the patent goes beyond turning off your A/C, radio, cruise control, or automated windows.

In some cases, the car could repossess itself.

The patent, titled “Systems and Methods to Repossess a Vehicle,” illustrates the digitized prison the globalist elites wish to create.

They want the serfs to drive ‘SMART’ cars, so they have this tool at their fingertips for anybody who misbehaves.

Ford files patent for system that could remotely repossess a car https://t.co/j8Be8QCp0h by @drgitlin

— Ars Technica (@arstechnica) March 2, 2023

Ford applies for patent that allows cars to self-repossesshttps://t.co/uzNhHpkTj3

— FOX Business (@FoxBusiness) March 2, 2023

ARS Technica has details:

Filed by Ford, the patent describes a system whereby a bank or leasing company could remotely disable specific features—the air conditioning or the radio—or perhaps the car itself in cases where the person leasing the vehicle hasn’t kept up with payments.

Perhaps in recognition of the fact that the US has become an extremely car-centric society since the 1950s, the patent describes how “the lockout condition may be lifted momentarily in case of an emergency situation so as to allow the vehicle to travel to a medical facility when the emergency is a medical emergency.”

The patent also describes how the lockout could be conditional, allowing owners to continue using the vehicle during the week so disruptions don’t affect their livelihood. The system could also let the car operate within a defined geofence.

In addition to using a vehicle’s GPS sensor to locate the vehicle, the patent describes using other sensors, such as optical cameras, lidar, and ultrasonic sensors, to determine whether the vehicle has been parked in a garage to deter a repossession attempt.

It even makes allowances for autonomous vehicles, which could effectively repossess themselves, driving to an impound lot upon request from a repossession computer.

Ford humorously said they “do not have any plans to deploy this.”

“We submit patents on new inventions as a normal course of business, but they aren’t necessarily an indication of new business or product plans,” Ford added.

‘We have this technology for your car to repossess itself but we’d never use it.’

Sure, that’s very believable.

Bloomberg added:

Still, it emerges at a troubling time for car owners. Loan delinquencies have been steadily ticking back up from their pandemic lull. Cox Automotive data showed severely delinquent auto loans in January hitting their highest point since 2006. The use of technology to aid repossessions isn’t new, but the patent application is wide-ranging, even proposing the idea that an autonomous vehicle could drive itself to a “more convenient” location to be collected by a tow truck.

“It really seems like you’re opening up a can of worms that, as a manufacturer, you don’t really need to be doing,” said John Van Alst, a senior attorney with the National Consumer Law Center.

According to the Ford patent application for repossession-linked technology, cruise control and automated windows could be disabled if a consumer doesn’t acknowledge a notice of an overdue car payment. Ford could also shut down key fobs, door locks — even the accelerator or the engine itself.

Here’s the patent: