Right to repair (cars) - Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum

Xist · 02-07-2022, 06:22 PM

Vehicles have been considered the one area where owners have a right to repair, but manufacturers haven't given up, and after a Massachusetts law attempted to bring right-to-repair up-to-date, Subaru and Kia turned off options like remote start on new vehicles for buyers in Massachusetts.

One buyer said he would have chosen a Toyota had he known that ahead of time and the salesman asked "Do you have a friend whose address you can use in Rhode Island?"

To fulfill the law every manufacturer would need to make dozens of gigabytes of data generated every hour by every new vehicle accessible to the owner and aftermarket shops, which was a bigger issue than anyone realized.

Someone estimated that data was worth $92B.

https://www.arstechnica.com/cars/202...ars-turns-ugly

JSH · 02-07-2022, 07:01 PM

This is the best written article I've seen on the topic - good find Xist.

As the article says, this isn't about "right to repair". You already have that right and have had it for a decade. Automaker have to sell you or any independent repair shop the same parts, tools, and manuals that they sell to their dealers.

This is about giving the public remote access to your car - both to do OTA updates and to collect the meta data your car generates.

The idea that automakers could make that sort of tool in a few months is laughable but why would we want to do it even if we could?

Hey insurance companies - want to know every time someone you insure speeds? - we can do that. Want to know exactly when they drive, where they drive, how many miles they drive, how aggressively they accelerate or brake? We can do that to.

Hey stalkers, want to know were your target is? Don't bother buying one of those cheap GPS trackers on Amazon or an apple airtag, you just need the VIN of the car they drive.