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While this has mostly been pushed by Farmers against John Deere's attempt to keep it's technical information proprietary, I think it pertains to all of us motorheads as well !
I think it is absolutely wrong for car makers to be going down the same path by locking up information and charging exhorbitant prices to do quite simple repairs. Much of the chip shortage is cause by creating cars that use too many chips to begin with. Much like Farmers who cannot wait around on repairmen to get their crops planted or harvested, the rest of us cannot wait around for a week or two for an $8000.00 transmission to be replaced, let alone afford to spend that much! Us Motorheads need to join the Farmers cause !
While this has mostly been pushed by Farmers against John Deere's attempt to keep it's technical information proprietary, I think it pertains to all of us motorheads as well !
I think it is absolutely wrong for car makers to be going down the same path by locking up information and charging exhorbitant prices to do quite simple repairs. Much of the chip shortage is cause by creating cars that use too many chips to begin with. Much like Farmers who cannot wait around on repairmen to get their crops planted or harvested, the rest of us cannot wait around for a week or two for an $8000.00 transmission to be replaced, let alone afford to spend that much! Us Motorheads need to join the Farmers cause !
When OBD I came out, the car companies tried to keep the codes propitiatory. That's part of the reason OBD II uses the same codes across the board. Chrysler codes are simple. Pulling codes on Ford products, Toyota and so on can be a night mare.
I can't afford 'em. In my 40 some odd years of automobile ownership, I think I can count the number of vehicles I owned, that were built in the same decade I owned them, on one hand.
I can't afford 'em. In my 40 some odd years of automobile ownership, I think I can count the number of vehicles I owned, that were built in the same decade I owned them, on one hand.
My current daily is the first monthly car payment I've had in 20+ years. Usually, my idea of a car payment is an agreed price and give it to them for the vehicle and title.
With the electric vehicles coming out, a lot of things will be changing , like it or not. While I am investing in solar power for my home, I hope to expand it to solar power a vehicle as well. The idea being a constant source of power for my home and truck, to avoid inflationary and the ever increasing costs of energy. If I can have a stable cost ( payment for the panels ) over 25 years, I can avoid for the most part costly fluctuations in gas prices.
However the need for right to repair will remain, not everyone is an electrician, but those of us who are, should have the right to our own repairs ! Fortunately for the first 25 years it's covered in my solar system.
I haven't made a new vehicle payment since my 95 Dakota, and never planned to again. I am rethinking it if interest rates remain low and the BBB goes through, which I hope doesn't.
However if it does I will certainly capitalize on the subsidy for an electric truck. I have plenty of room for more panels.
Sorry didn't mean to take this off the original premise of the thread, just kinda went that way. We should maintain our rights to repair, and modify for that matter!
No matter what is on the roads 20 years from now i don't think it's going to be as easy to fix/modify for the common guy. It will have proprietary hardware/software and will need a computer to hook up to it to make adjustments. It's sort of like that today with the DRB3's. As for electric vehicles i think it will take some getting used to compared the internal combustion. What i don't see(it may be out there) is solar panels on the roof(vehicle) to help keep the batteries charged. 100% solar power for a vehicle is not going to work, Remember the the ones they built back in the 90's? They could work if conditions where just right but take a long time to get where it was going. Battery technology is far behind where it needs to be for electric vehicles. In the future maybe both batteries and solar panels will shrink in size/weight to less than a 1/8 of what they are now then they could be viable vehicles. And they need to start designing them with looks in mind. I don't think there is anything out there now that i would want to drive even i had $$$. Need looks of the late 60's/exotics then it may change the way people perceive "eco friendly" vehicles. I think now the designers compete to see who can come up this the ugliest design! Just think what a electric Lamborghini would look like??? Well you don't have to...(this is a hybrid but you get the point)
Agree Moparite ! American car companies used to compete to come up with the coolest, sexiest looking cars with performance ! Now all they do is try to copy the other guys to see who can make the Ugliest Fish Mouth SUV , and incorporate the stupid trend of biggest rims, with smallest tires, so that every time you hit a pothole, you bend your rims ! Stupidity brought by woke!
My current daily is the first monthly car payment I've had in 20+ years. Usually, my idea of a car payment is an agreed price and give it to them for the vehicle and title.
ME TOO!!! I had to take teh plunge a few days ago. $14k for a 10 yo truck....most of same age and older, with many more miles than this one has, were even much more. the fact that they stuck me for $870 in goddam sales tax realy frosts me. and that wasnt including the $300 "doc fee (WTF is THAT?) and a couple hundred in title fees and license plate transfer (would have been more if Id gotten new plates vs transfer)
I've bought and gotten good service out of many vehicles that I paid less for than they charged me for tax!!!!! I got a 2012 reg cab 2wd longbed Ram1500, that used to be a Fastenal truck.
The Right to Repair Legislation !
