Oddly enough Ford has done weirder crap in the past. They invented E-coat which is a rust prevention process and then didn’t widely use it in their plants until 25-30 years later. In the meantime they licensed it to most of their competitors while Ford themselves went on to develop a horrendous reputation for their cars rusting all through the 60’s and 70’s…

Nope it just takes one jurisdiction to mandate a reporting system is used and then they have a captive market.

If they program in an exception to not report other Fords it could become a competitive advantage.