What are your thoughts on Deeres right to repair

[Howboutthemdawgs]

The Latest John Deere Repair Lawsuit Now Has The Go-Ahead

Long time readers will have followed the twists and turns of the John Deere repair saga, in which the agricultural machinery manufacturer has used DRM to restrict the repair of its tractors. It may…

hackaday.com

This populated on my news feed and it’s interesting to me. Not a challenge I face but one I can see the merits being against. I can’t wrap my head around purchasing something and basically not having the legal right to work on it. As someone who owns three pcs of Deere equipment it makes me not look at them in a favorable light.

 

[Catscratch]

I buy something it's mine to do as I wish with.

I rent something then they can have a say in how it gets repaired since they will be getting it back at some point.

 

[356]

John Deere (under pressure) affirmed the Right to Repair in 2022. Here is the official posting. One of my deer hunting buddies is service advisor for Heritage Tractor and confirmed the right to repair prior to my purchase of a new John Deere this summer.

 

[tooln]

I think that sucks. Many large farmers have dedicated mechanics some even factory trained. You spend well over 100k you should have the right to do as you please. Now if it's a lease tractor that's different.

 

[Mtyhunter]

You can fix whatever you own, at your own expense. You can't fix something yourself that's warrantyable, and expect to get a warranty claim paid on it.
Problem is the software necessary to communicate with the systems. I don't know about JD or much about the tractor industry, but in the auto world, you can purchase access to GM, Ford, Dodge hardware and software to get you into the vehicle's computer system, but you'll be stunned at the expense. Repair shops charge diagnoses charges (which is not just pulling a code) to offset the costs of the hardware/software necessary.
Tractor or auto, there's a lot of issues that can't be accurately diagnosed or even repaired without that manufacturers software. For example, on some diesels, if you replace an injector, you'll have to have the manufacturer software/hardware to basically program in special numbers on the injector you just installed, as it won't work without going thru that routine. Most all aftermarket scanners will pull codes, and be able to give you maybe 75% of the data out of the units computer system, but there's a lot of features that's proprietary to that manufacturer that is not avail in the aftermarket world, and that's where the consumer is stuck.