Right To Repair laws - What say you?

[daddy]

I am selfishly biased on this one. I will stay out of it. This has been in the wings for the last 6 years. As a dealer/distributor we are advised constantly to prepare to make our proprietary software available to the public.

EDIT: fWONk it. I am concerned from a business standpoint, for obvious reasons. We currently, at our discretion, sell ALL manuals to our customers if they want them. We don't have to, but we do. We also make available a customer level diagnostic software for some of the engines we sell. We do not make available the distributor level/factor level software that we utilize to make horsepower and calibration changes.

That said; just with the level of commitment to our customer that we have already put forth, we now spend a good portion of our day supporting the software and literature that we have made available. We can't charge them for the support. We offer training through our training centers, but they do not want to pay for it. It has just opened a massive can of worms.

Anyhow, I could go on and on about this subject.

I guess I am in the middle. I get it. I would love to have it for my own personal products. Being on the other end of it though, it is a disaster. It will only get worse, and a handful of dealers will disappear because of it. NO MATTER WHAT, you can count on the price of vehicles/products going up.

 

[thunderstruck]

So are we going to force Microsoft and Apple to release the source code for their respective operating systems too?

 

[daddy]

So are we going to force Microsoft and Apple to release the source code for their respective operating systems too?

Apple is the only proprietary one of the bunch, so yes.

 

[mr_bots]

I really have no clue where I stand on this. On one side I can see manufacturers wanting to protect their designs and people will figure it out and do it anyway, it is 2012 people post everything on the internet. On the other side it's not the design of an individual component but how to replace it and does it really matter that people are given information to work on their cars? Most are too lazy to do it themselves anyways.

I don't know if Microsoft releasing the source code for a $150 O/S is a good comparison to instructions on how to change a fuel pump on a $40,000 vehicle.

 

[RedRider]

Chrysler and Chevrolet should. Tax dollars kept their doors open, so yeah, no secrets.

 

[Mixedbreed]

After a time frame yes. say, 5 years or when i major redo happens. Then they should release the knowledge.

 

[OldCracker29]

I'd have to say they should give them up after the warranty period is over.

 

[Longshot270]

I read it as them sending repair info to privately owned shops. Don't they already sell it? I know someone that has every tech schematic of every popular vehicle made. It takes up an entire wall of one of his shops. He had to have bought it somewhere since he has never worked for all the brands. I figured everything was already available.

 

[Nick The Great]

I read it as them sending repair info to privately owned shops. Don't they already sell it? I know someone that has every tech schematic of every popular vehicle made. It takes up an entire wall of one of his shops. He had to have bought it somewhere since he has never worked for all the brands. I figured everything was already available.

Thats what I've wondered. Surely your mom and pop shops are buying this info now? I know my mechanic has complained about his computer and what he's had to pay for that in the past

 

[daddy]

I read it as them sending repair info to privately owned shops. Don't they already sell it? I know someone that has every tech schematic of every popular vehicle made. It takes up an entire wall of one of his shops. He had to have bought it somewhere since he has never worked for all the brands. I figured everything was already available.

Thats what I've wondered. Surely your mom and pop shops are buying this info now? I know my mechanic has complained about his computer and what he's had to pay for that in the past

Um...

...with automakers and dealers steadfastly opposed to any legislation requiring them to divulge the electronic secrets of their vehicles to independent repair shops. The little guys continue to cry foul, insisting that dealership mechanics get repair tools and software that are unavailable on the open market. The manufacturers claim they already provide enough repair information and what they don't disclose is proprietary and needs to be protected.