Oregon governor signs nation’s first right-to-repair bill that bans parts pairing
3 years ago by flop_leash_973 to c/technology
My favorite part of the MN right to repair bill is that it requires OEM parts/software/schematics to be offered to consumers at the lowest possible price, including any rebates, sales, deals, etc. It's not quite an "at cost" situation, but it's probably about as close as you can get without crossing that line
Yea, I agree. I think these bills should require the maximum cost to be cost of manufacture at the date of engineering; i.e. a part designed in 2008 can not cost more than the materials to make it and it must keep that price for as long as it is used.
But progress is progress, we'll get there eventually as long as we keep up the political pressure.
Edit: please read the spirit in that example rather than to the letter. There's a lot of nuance that I just skimmed over, and that's because I don't want to write the bill.
That's what the auto industry does. They have to sell you access to their system to allow third parties to program modules, but that cost can be excessive, especially if a small shop only needs to program one module in a blue moon.
The "undermine the security, safety, and privacy of Oregonians by forcing device manufacturers to allow the use of parts of unknown origin in consumer devices" line is the same reasoning used by AT&T back in the old days as to why you couldn't buy your own phone or use a dial-up modem.
Parts pairing is prohibited only on devices sold in 2025 and later. And there are carve-outs for certain kinds of electronics and devices, including video game consoles, medical devices, HVAC systems, motor vehicles, and—as with other states—"electric toothbrushes."
What’s a good-faith argument for exempting these devices? Or was it simply successful lobbying in protecting corporate interests.
I could see an argument about medical devices, HVAC, and vehicles... But I don't think I'd agree with them. Except maybe medical.
Consoles and toothbrushes though? What the fuck?
Exactly.
I don't see any argument for vehicles, tbh. HVAC tinkering is almost exclusively high voltage so that makes just a little sense, don't want people swapping a 350 volt AC capacitor with a 250 volt DC capacitor and having it blow up, but Vehicles means a manufacturer can do everything imaginable to limit part availability and kill aftermarket parts purely for profits.
I do for things like ECUs that are programmed to the vin to prevent theft or tampering that would allow an attack vector for the vehicle.
I guarantee you keyless start cars aren't more secure because of paired parts. The encryption for the fob's signal isn't the result of a paired part.
Otherwise a thief can steel a car in a few minutes by bringing their own computers.
.....you mean like they do currently?
If the security was so bad that removing part pairing would crash this, then it wasn't secure to begin with. Same argument as apple pairing the fingerprint sensor, the emsensor is only doing the reading, not the authentication.
Which is dumb, because there's nothing stopping anyone from replacing the seals/glue when they put it back together. And at least in the USA manufactures have been covered for damages/harm resulting from a flawed consumer-based repair since since 1975.
Even HVAC, WTF?
I mean, I don't want the thing supplying the air I'm breathing to accidentally not burn all the gas and lead to carbon monoxide poisoning etc.... Things like the ductwork and shit, for sure, but not like, a burner.
The great irony is it's frequently the "ductwork" that's the problem: plugged or badly installed exhaust pipes, which the manufacture has no control over. The rest are the appliance itself wearing out or failing with no warning.
I've repaired furnaces myself several times including replacing burners and exhaust fans -- it isn't rocket science. It's no different than working on any other "dangerous" thing like a car. If someone somehow manages to fuck up so badly it hurts or kills someone that's on them.
So you want to be stuck with the same thermostat forever? Imagine it comes with one of those Amazon ones with a persistent camera and microphone in it that you can't opt out of.
You need some sort of licensing to do most HVAC work anyways. Theres no point in forcing companies to make all the parts available to the average joe when the average joe can't legally do the work anyways.
The goal of the bill was to get something with teeth passed. Fighting every lobby at once would be impossible, so they leave those devices out of it and will now be able to work on different laws for those things. At least that’s what I read they’re doing for the John Deere stuff at least. The legislators know it’s going to be a difficult battle, so they segmented the law to make it so that a failure in one spot wouldn’t cause a loss everywhere.
GET FUCKED VOLKSWAGEN YOU COCKSUCKERS
Motor vehicles are exempt and the law doesn't affect anything until 2025.
Oh for fucks sake
..... MOTHERFUCKER. Just can't have anything fuckin nice.
Wait, what's wrong with VW?
VW does parts pairing. It resulted in me having to get a new vehicle when my steering wheel controls and air ag stopped functioning. Turns out you have to program the clockspring with the old clockspring and bringing it to VW resulted in a 350$ charge for them to say "we can't fix this".
Fuck VW.
I brought it there after bringing it to my preferred auto shop. Guy did everything in the book with me there and told "yeah sorry man, you're gonna have to bring it to VW" after we watched the programmer failed multiple times.
This isn't necessarily the case anymore. They realized they could charge more money after all this parts pairing and proprietary stuff started.
Dealerships can make more money from repairs than selling. Especially if sales margin is lower due to online competitors selling cars cheaper.
This bill attacks one of the things preventing cheaper repairs and shops from helping .
I asked about a quote to fix my older car (not VW), and they said it would take 30 days in the shop... To be fair, the part in question has the odometer data, but surely they can just pull the part, transfer the data, re-install, and they're done. Should take less than a week...
The law, like those passed in New York, California, and Minnesota, will require many manufacturers to provide the same parts, tools, and documentation to individuals and repair shops that they provide to their own repair teams.
I'm sensing downsizing of "repair teams" in the not so distant future, with calls for repair being forwarded to sales.
This. It sounds great, but realistically companies will just control the supply of repair materials and scalp us that way instead.
I wonder what Louis Rossmann has to say about this.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Oregon Governor Tina Kotek today signed the state's Right to Repair Act, which will push manufacturers to provide more repair options for their products than any other state so far.
The law, like those passed in New York, California, and Minnesota, will require many manufacturers to provide the same parts, tools, and documentation to individuals and repair shops that they provide to their own repair teams.
“By eliminating manufacturer restrictions, the Right to Repair will make it easier for Oregonians to keep their personal electronics running," said Charlie Fisher, director of Oregon's chapter of the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG), in a statement.
Apple opposed the Oregon repair bill for its parts-pairing ban.
John Perry, a senior manager for secure design at Apple, testified at a February hearing in Oregon that the pairing restriction would "undermine the security, safety, and privacy of Oregonians by forcing device manufacturers to allow the use of parts of unknown origin in consumer devices."
According to Consumer Reports, which lobbied and testified in support of Oregon's bill, the repair laws passed in four states now cover nearly 70 million people.
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If only there were options that would encourage the use of safe, genuine parts.
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