by Marc Morano at climatedepot.com
Ford Motor Co. has applied for a patent to make remote car repossessions nearly seamless for lenders — and deeply unpleasant for car owners in default, who may endure an “incessant” sound, sweat out disabled air conditioning, and eventually get locked out of their car. … The patent described steps to trigger if an owner ignores overdue notices, starting with those meant to cause “an additional level of discomfort to a driver and occupants of the vehicle” by disabling nice-to-have features like air conditioner, remote key fobs, and the automated door lock-and-unlock system. Another step described in the remote-repo patent application included prompting the car’s audio system to “emit an incessant and unpleasant sound every time the owner is present in the vehicle.” The repo system would control various ways “to make the sound unpleasant,” and ensure that the owner could not “turn it off without first making contact with the lending institution.”