Across America, more than 20 state legislatures are looking over proposed laws that would help guarantee citizens’ access to parts, instructions, and diagnoses to help them repair products—from smartphones to tractors—in their own homes.
Called the “Right to Repair” movement, it’s been growing in urgency and size since the turn of the millennium, and 2023 could be the first year in many where the DIY capability of the American consumer grew, rather than diminished.
In Colorado, a bill was passed along party lines in the State House 9-4, mandating that tractor and other farm equipment manufacturers provide enough parts and instructions to allow farmers to repair their own tractors.
“The manufacturers and the dealers have a monopoly on that repair market because it’s lucrative,” said Rep. Brianna Titone, a Democrat and one of the bill’s sponsors. “(Farmers) just want to get their machine going again.”
Certain dealers like John Deere (previously) and Steiger don’t allow, as part of the buying agreement, fixes at home, but as an article in the Miami Herald points out, repairmen aren’t on call 24-7 in the high plains of Colorado. One farmer had to wait 5 days for a service on his tractor that stopped during a crucial period in the growing season, where he could have been losing as much as $83,000 a day.
Right to Repair farming legislation is on the table or has already passed in 10 states in the Union, including Colorado, but also Florida, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, Texas, and Vermont.
Just this January, the American Farm Bureau Federation and John Deere signed a memorandum of understanding, described as a “powerful middle ground” that ensures farmers’ and ranchers’ right to repair their own farm equipment but without the government involving force and violence to enforce it
“We look forward to working alongside the American Farm Bureau and our customers in the months and years ahead to ensure farmers continue to have the tools and resources to diagnose, maintain and repair their equipment,” David Gilmore, John Deere’s Senior Vice President for sales and marketing, said in a statement.
It’s not just tractors that are potentially becoming easier to fix at home, but automobiles as well.
This January, the Right to Equitable and Professional Auto Industry Repair Act was introduced into the House.
MORE FROM RIGHT TO REPAIR: EU Approves Groundbreaking New ‘Right to Repair’ Laws Requiring Appliances to Be Easier to Fix
“The legislation would require all tools and equipment, wireless transmission of repair and diagnostic data, and telematics systems needed for vehicle repairs to be made available to the independent repair industry,” writes Automotive News.
The bill has come to the House after similar legislation was passed in Massachusetts and Maine, where lawmakers wanted to beef up the right-to-repair and aftermarket auto parts industry, especially regarding telematic data and other information from onboard computers.
Just as it wasn’t only tractors and farmers who felt their right to DIY repairs needed protecting, it isn’t only mechanical engineering where right-to-repair is flourishing.
The New York state Senate signed the Digital Fair Repair Act into law in the dying days of December, ensuring original equipment manufacturers make parts, instructions, and diagnostics data available to anyone looking to repair a device, such as a smartphone or tablet.
MORE FROM THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY: Company Embodies ‘Right to Repair’ By Redesigning Auto Parts That Constantly Fail—And Selling Them Cheaper
“As technology and smart devices become increasingly essential to our daily lives, consumers should be able to easily fix the devices they rely on in a timely fashion,” Governor Kathy Hochul said. “This legislation will empower consumers with better options to repair their devices, thereby maximizing the lifespan of their devices, saving money, and reducing electronic waste.”
One of the major reasons that companies want to make repairing devices as impossible as possible is that if things like schematics and software become freely available, it places intellectual property and trade secrets at risk, and allows bad actors to back-engineer patented products.
There are several holes in that argument, namely that patent law is still enforceable and companies could sue those attempting to make knock-offs. Secondly, rigid intellectual property and trade secrets protection stifles innovation.
“After a decade of trying, we get two [state laws] in a very short period of time,” Kyle Wiens, CEO of iFixit, told Axios.
RELATED: German City Diverts Goods From Landfills, Repairs Them, Then Sells in ‘Department Store for Reuse’
“Every single day, I’m seeing a couple more states file a new bill. And I think we’re going to be over 20 states very soon and those bills are moving.”
There’s also something to be said for the ultimate end which consumers of many of these irreparable items are forced to make for them; they end up in landfills. E-waste is a potentially-catastrophic oncoming environmental problem since it doesn’t really biodegrade in any meaningful sense, and recycling it requires technical dismantling.
The right-to-repair is also equally about keeping easily-fixable devices out of the landfills.
Know Someone Who Loves Fixing Things? SHARE This Good Nationwide News…
Great news!