Ford files patent for system that could ’repossess a vehicle’

Patent could allow leasing company, rental firm or bank to restrict or prevent the use of a vehicle

Ford
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Ford has filed a patent in the U.S. that could allow a finance or leasing company to disable a car in the event of a motorist falling behind on their monthly repayments.

The patent application, filed in February, states: ”The disclosure generally pertains to systems and methods to repossess a vehicle. In an example method, a first computer sends to a second computer, a message pertaining to a delinquency or a vehicle-related payment.”

In other words, failure to keep up with the finance repayments.

The application goes on to describe how the system could disable one of the car’s functions, such as the radio or the air conditioning, or may place the vehicle in what it describes as a ”lockout condition”. The ’lockout’ could be lifted in the event of a medical emergency.

The repossession system may even ”emit an incessant and unpleasant sound every time the owner is present in the vehicle”. Going further, disabling the car’s primary functions might create ’an additional level of discomfort’ for the driver, the patent states.

In a related move, Ford’s patent could allow for the deployment of a geofence around the owner’s address. For example, the car would be permitted for use on the school run or the daily commute, with no travel allowed beyond the geofence.

In effective, it means that a bank, leasing company or rental firm could repossess or limit the use of a vehicle in the event of non-payment or penalties associated with damage.

Ford said: ”We 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.”

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