Why every Jalop and Gearhead should care about Right To Repair. A Rant.

"NKato" (NKato)
09/21/2018 at 21:52 • Filed to: Killer Queen, Right To Repair

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I’m gonna bullet point this shit, and then throw articles at you.

By having Right to Repair enshrined in law, you get:

The right to work on your car’s more obscure technologies, such as the PCM, ABS, and other modules that would otherwise !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! to work on.

Manufacturers would be forced to provide sufficient support and knowledge for people to be DIY.

It would eliminate onerous warranty protections that become voided if you mess with something.

Why am I bringing this up? Well, the Killer Queen has an ECM and ABS Module from another 2010 Crown Victoria. The main caveat being, the car originally came optioned with functional traction control. Due to the module swap, I no longer have Traction Control.

Fixing this has been an exercise in frustration. Trying to talk to the Ford Dealerships is like pulling teeth with the finesse of a backhoe operated by a drunkard. They’re so focused on the “customer experience” that it never occurs to them that there are people with older cars that they want to keep maintained.

This is why I want to see Right To Repair become a right that all citizens can enjoy. In fact, on top of that, I would be very happy if there was a proper “Official Ford Mechanic” label so I could easily find a shop that is not a dealership that works on Fords, divorcing the entire dealership concept from the idea of maintenance .

And in the midst of writing this, I had to diagnose my car for an electrical short that had developed recently when I was messing around with the ECM. Found the general location, will tear apart the door panel tomorrow morning to get at it. This particular short is preventing the use of my remote and automatic door locks. Not cool.

Articles:

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DISCUSSION (8)

Urambo Tauro > NKato
09/21/2018 at 23:03

Thank you for posting this. I saw the Wired article earlier today and was gonna share it here, but the war against Right to Repair pisses me off so much that it gave me a case of writer’s block. I don’t even know where to begin!

Also today, SouthMainAuto posted this video about a VW that requires a fancy-shmancy scan tool to put the parking brake actuators in “service mode” just to do a simple brake job (or what would have been a simple brake job if not for that stupid 3-prong piston thing... ).

merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc > Urambo Tauro
09/21/2018 at 23:44

Well to be fair, you don’t need a super expensive scan tool, but a $200 rosstech usb Dongle will do the trick, and some nicer OBDII scan tools have the EPB function on them as well. And at least with the rosstech you can check all the other vehicle modules and recode some if desired or needed. Well worth the initial cost of you have an older VAG vehicle.

Derpwagon > NKato
09/22/2018 at 00:24

Putting the tinfoil on for a minute here, but I feel that the end goal is to make it impossible to keep a “self-driven ” car on the road. I also wonder why my paranoid brain feels like the end goal is total government control if not constant monitoring over the movement of people. But when everyone is in a computer-controlled car and the precedence of mandated back-door access exists, it just feels like a bad deal.

Tristan > NKato
09/22/2018 at 00:26

I need to invest in a few more 60+ year old orphan cars...

Future Heap Owner > NKato
09/22/2018 at 02:28

Erosion of Right to Repair is infuriating, one of the more egregious instances of the corporate drive to turn *everything* into a recurring revenue stream by replacing ownership with renting. Even though they’ve “sold” it to you, it’s not yours; you must ask them permission to look inside of it, and the government backs them up in refusing you and demanding repair money for them to do it.

atfsgeoff > NKato
09/22/2018 at 03:15

Counterpoint: Standardized aftermarket software is becoming more and more available. MegaSquirt lets you convert from OEM closed-source engine management software to highly user-programmable and modifiable software utilizing OEM or aftermarket sensors, injectors, etc.

No matter how much big corporations want to “own” their intellectual property, as long as there’s a product being sold to end users, the end users will eventually find a way to fix/upgrade complex products.

Urambo Tauro > merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc
09/22/2018 at 11:07

Great tip! I don’t even have a VW at the moment, or anything OBDII, but I’m starting to think that I’m going to find myself needing a scan tool of some sort some day. Prefera bly one that will connect to multiple makes.

I’m hoping that there is (or will be by the time I’m ready to make such a purchase) a way to accomplish this through a simple dongle (USB or Bluetooth ) and a tablet. So far, the only apps I’ve seen are glorified code readers that can only access a handful of other parameters.

Urambo Tauro > Future Heap Owner
09/22/2018 at 12:10

It really is infuriating, and the way automakers keep getting more and more ruthless about maximizing their profits is making me put on tinfoil hats that I never thought I’d be wearing (metaphorically speaking). I actually believe that scene in Fight Club now about how automakers handle recalls . And planned obsolescence- yup, I’m convinced that’s a thing.