13 car companies want to make it illegal to work on your car.

[saevel25]

https://www.yahoo.com/autos/s/gm-ford-others-want-working-own-car-illegal-160000229.html

Facepalm of the day goes to,

General Motors Company
BMW Group
FCA US LLC
Ford Motor Company
Jaguar Land Rover
Mazda
Mercedes-Benz USA
Mitsubishi Motors
Porsche
Toyota
Volkswagen Group of America
Volvo Cars North America

Here is John Deer's rational,

Quote:

What GM, and even tractor companies like John Deere, argues is that you, as an owner, don’t actually own your car. Rather, you’re sort of just borrowing it for an extended amount of time and paying for the rights to use the technology. If it sounds ridiculous— it is. But it gets even more ludicrous.

Umm, the title of my car is in my name. I own my car. You as a company can not come and take my car from me. You as a company own the patent to your technology. You as a company set a price for me to buy that technology to use as I see fit as long as I do not break copyright laws. Heck I can even resell my car and make money off your technolog.

If you want someone to not own your technology then only offer cars under a lease contract.

To me this is just an attack on the owners to try to make sure they take their cars to the dealership to get maintenanced. Heck I bet if you mess with the computer you void the warranty on the vehicle and take all responsibility for anything that happens. I see no liability issues with this. This is just companies being domineering to the point of being stupid.

Heck even the most high tech in terms of electronic vehicles Tesla Motors thinks this is a stupid idea.

You car companies listed above, way to be put on my, "Do not buy from" list.

[dennyjones]

I don't disagree with you but this isn't new .   Verizon and some other phone companies use to have laws where it was illegal to root an android phone or jailbreak an iphone.   It wasn't until recently that that was reversed.  I'm one of the people that believe, if I bought it, it's mine.   I rooted my first Droid X back in 2010 and my Nexus 7 when it became available.

I'm not defending the car companies but with all of the computer related equipment in cars today, it would be easy for a backyard mechanic to remove a safety device and cause some serious problems.  If the car is under warranty, and an individual tampers with the computer systems, the warranty should be void.  After the warranty has expired, and the manufacturer isn't expected to fix the vehicle for free, I believe any modification an individual performs should be his/her right.

That being said, several states have vehicle inspections that force the car driver to meet certain specification related to safety and pollution.  The fines could be pretty hefty for modifying a vehicle to circumvent these inspections.

[neophytea]

I went to one dealer to get regular scheduled maintenance.  From the time I drove in the lot till I drove out of the lot after the work was done was 95 minutes.

The interesting part was that I was charged for 3 unit hours of labor.  I called the manufacturer and they said they had no responsibility and I should take my car to another dealer.

I took a car to another dealer for maintenance.  I was able to walk around back and look in the service area.  To my surprise each mechanic had two bays and was working on two cars at the same time.  So the unit hours of labor and clock hours would be the same.

these new laws will make the manufacturer jointly responsible with dealerships that gyp customers.

[davedove]

This is just completely ridiculous.  Once you sell a product, that particular item is no longer yours and the new owner can do whatever he wants with it.  Now, I completely understand the voiding of warranties if you work on the car yourself and something goes wrong.  I could even agree with whoever gives you a loan making some sort of restrictions on who works on the vehicle.  After all, they have a financial interest in the vehicle until the loan is paid off.  And, of course. a lease is a different matter because the car is not sold.

[krupa]

Sounds like another case of CYA (cover your ass.)  They don't want people to think that they are encouraging (by not dis couraging) people to hack their car's computers in case some motorhead/geek messes with his car's computer and ends up killing someone as a result.

[joekelly]

Isn't this the same as the ebooks?  With the Kindle, and others, the ebook you buy you cannot resell or even give away.  In fact, one could claim that  you do not own that ebook, but only rent it.    I totally disagree with such a policy and do not , will not , go the ebook route.

[Slowcelica]

This is just a ploy by big automakers to up their profits by making consumers waste their money by using the stealership for repairs. I can't remember the last time I payed anyone to do anything to my car, other then something like paint, changing tires, or bodywork. I've swapped motors, trannies, clutches, all kind of things myself.

[saevel25]

This is just a ploy by big automakers to up their profits by making consumers waste their money by using the stealership for repairs. I can't remember the last time I payed anyone to do anything to my car, other then something like paint, changing tires, or bodywork. I've swapped motors, trannies, clutches, all kind of things myself.

Some of us are not lucky to be mechanically inclined or have the location and equipment to do such in depth repairs on our vehicles

I am not sure I agree with trying to get you to take the car to the dealership. I am not sure that the automakers see any money from the dealerships on repairs. I believe most places buy the vehicles, hold them in stock and sell them. Besides that the rest of the stuff is just extra offered by the dealership because it is easy for them to get you to go there for repairs. The two kinda mesh well, selling cars and fixing them.

[rdsandy]

This is just completely ridiculous.  Once you sell a product, that particular item is no longer yours and the new owner can do whatever he wants with it.  Now, I completely understand the voiding of warranties if you work on the car yourself and something goes wrong.  I could even agree with whoever gives you a loan making some sort of restrictions on who works on the vehicle.  After all, they have a financial interest in the vehicle until the loan is paid off.  And, of course. a lease is a different matter because the car is not sold.

This mindset is not just auto industry.

Monsanto owns the seed it sells to farmers. They can't grow a crop and harvest their seeds for next year, they have to repurchase every year.

Bio Techs own diseases and disease treatments, genomes and such.

[Slowcelica]

Some of us are not lucky to be mechanically inclined or have the location and equipment to do such in depth repairs on our vehicles

I am not sure I agree with trying to get you to take the car to the dealership. I am not sure that the automakers see any money from the dealerships on repairs. I believe most places buy the vehicles, hold them in stock and sell them. Besides that the rest of the stuff is just extra offered by the dealership because it is easy for them to get you to go there for repairs. The two kinda mesh well, selling cars and fixing them.

If you can dodge a wrench you can dodge a ball.

It's not just the labor the dealership gets from repairs, they have to order parts, and they get those parts from the manufacturers. Its a partnership really. I doubt this will go through, it would kill the aftermarket auto industry.

[Shindig]

This mindset is not just auto industry. Monsanto owns the seed it sells to farmers. They can't grow a crop and harvest their seeds for next year, they have to repurchase every year. Bio Techs own diseases and disease treatments, genomes and such.

Buying new seeds every year was the norm in the farming industry long before Monsanto (or even modern GMOs) came around, so it isn't quite the same thing. But you're right that this isn't limited to the auto industry.

[newtogolf]

If you buy a car outright and don't care about voiding the the warranty then I believe you have the right to do whatever you want with it.  Not many people buy a car and drive it until it dies so the manufacturer is still on the hook for the warranty if you trade it in or sell it before the warranty expires.  I think it's fair that while the car is under warranty that all work on the car must be done on it by an authorized service center just to ensure it's done right and according to schedule.

If you lease or finance the car I'd say the manufacturers are within their rights to restrict what you do to that vehicle since until it's paid in full the title might be in your name but ultimately it belongs to the bank.

There are a number of things at work here, first of all financial.  I owned a service company within the IT industry, service contracts and T&M; repairs are very profitable for a business.  It's not only recurring revenue, but it is customer ownership / retention as well.  For as long as you own your "manufacturer" vehicle you have to go to a "manufacturer" authorized dealer for service which gives them opportunities to upsell you service offer you new vehicles and gives them an edge on future purchases.

Secondly it's liability.  I own a sports car that's very popular to mod using after market parts and software to change the engine characteristics, turbo boost, etc.  If I "mod" my engine and it blows up, is the manufacturer responsible for replacing it under warranty?  Some "mods" aren't safe for the components or for the driver so who's responsible for damages that result if the car is in an accident due to the "mods".

We're a very litigious society these days, so I can see why they want to limit their exposure.

[turtleback]

I wonder if any of this is driven by the emerging development of driverless cars.  There is a liability issue that would give the automakers an interest in making sure the car's electronics are not tampered with.  Would they be looking that far down the road?

[newtogolf]

I wonder if any of this is driven by the emerging development of driverless cars.  There is a liability issue that would give the automakers an interest in making sure the car's electronics are not tampered with.  Would they be looking that far down the road?

They could be, there's also an increased concern about hacking the internal computer of current cars which allows the hacker to take control over most aspects of the vehicle that could cause an accident.

I think it's ultimately about liability and warranty service.  When I purchased my car, the dealer refused to install an after market remote start because of the complexity of the cars electronics and fear of damage any wiring issues would cause to the cars computers.

These aren't the cars of the 60's or even 80's.  Beyond regular oil changes, there isn't that much service that is required since there isn't a distributor, the battery is service free, and spark plugs last 100,000 miles, etc.  Beyond brakes, tire rotation/replacement and air filter replacement any service that is required likely requires a diagnostic computer that the average person or local mechanic wouldn't have access to in order to ensure everything is working properly.

I know some of the tuning modules that people use to increase horsepower can destroy an engine if not set up properly and most manufacturers will void the warranty if the default programming is tampered with.