Ford Hits the Brakes on Patent Application for Self-Repossessing Cars

After announcing a patent application in early 2023 for a patent that would revolutionize the way lenders repossess vehicles, as of recently, Ford’s application has reportedly been marked as abandoned.

The patent application described numerous ways lenders could utilize smart car features to their advantage when attempting to repossess vehicles from delinquent borrowers. The features would allow lenders to cause certain annoyances until the borrower contacted the financial agency. These include playing unpleasant sounds through the vehicle’s audio system or disabling the car’s air conditioning.

If the non-payment issue is still not resolved in spite of the annoyances, lenders would be able to place the vehicle in a “lockout condition”, preventing a person from entering a vehicle. Alternatively, the lender could confine where the vehicle could travel, such as only allowing the owner to travel to work or drop a child off at school.

The patent application also described further available remedies for lenders where the vehicle has self-driving capabilities, such as directing the vehicle to drive from the owner’s home to an impound lot, or even a junk yard if the system registers that the market value of the vehicle is below a pre-determined threshold price.