07-16-2021, 05:41 AM
We'll have to see how this plays out. I know that John Deere is pretty much leading the battle against your right to repair. A lot of the newer John Deere products have computer software that basically shuts the machine down and renders it inoperable until it is essentially "unlocked" by a certified John Deere mechanic. You can try to fix it yourself, but it's often the case that you're forced to spend $800 - $2000 to ship it to an authorized mechanic. I've also heard many stories of these mechanics stating that "Oh, you repaired X problem incorrectly. We will not unlock it until you pay us Y amount of $$$ to fix it "correctly.""
The same thing is happening to many consumer grade Lawn/Garden Tractors. MTD and John Deere are big proponents of this. Mainly because lawn tractor mowers are stupid easy to repair. Heck, whenever I have issues out of mine I usually just go to YouTube and search for the fix. More often than not, it takes some simple hand tools and an hour or two of work. For example, on older John Deere lawn tractors many of them have basic Spicer transmissions. These transmissions are easily obtained used. So what John Deere has been doing recently with their newer tractors is changing the parts around and how they function every single model year. An example of this would be their recent decision to unnecessarily switch the brake pad to the opposite side of the gear box, so that older Spicer transmissions are unable to work in newer models.
Rambling aside, while I'm happy something like this has been signed, I'm sure companies will still find ways around it.
