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Car Brands Are Fighting Your Right To Repair - YouTube
Channel: Donut Media
[0]
- Since the car's inception,
[2]
Americans have loved to fix them.
[5]
It's been in our blood since
the dawn of what, The Model T?
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Not only does knowing how to
turn a wrench save us a penny
[10]
when it comes to making repairs,
[11]
it also helps us understand
how our vehicles work.
[14]
But these aren't the days
[15]
of our great-great grand
daddies and grand mommies.
[18]
Back then, if you needed something fixed,
[20]
you'd order a new part,
install it, and be on your way.
[23]
Not so much anymore.
[24]
A couple of cold ones
and a little red toolbox
[27]
aren't gonna get you very far when working
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on a modern car.
[30]
We've all encountered situations
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when we can't make a simple repair
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because it's literally
impossible for anyone outside
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of the car company to fix it.
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It shouldn't be this hard.
[40]
Without the language, i.e.
impossible to buy technology
[43]
to communicate with
your vehicle's computer,
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you don't stand a chance.
[47]
Today we're taking a look at
why manufacturers are bending
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over backwards to take
away customers abilities
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to work on their vehicles,
what progress has been made,
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and if you stick around until the end,
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we'll talk about how we can fight together
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to demand the right to
repair our own vehicles
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in the future.
[63]
(dramatic music)
[65]
Thank you to Jackery for
sponsoring today's video.
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This is the Jackery Solar Generator 1500.
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Weighing in at just over 35 pounds,
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it's designed to give you
all the power you need,
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handling a massive 1800
watt hours of capacity
[79]
with seven port options.
[81]
I'm talking three 120-volt
AC outlets, two USB-A ports,
[85]
a USB-C port, as well as a
standard 12-volt car port.
[89]
And with this bright LCD display,
[91]
you'll have no problem
tracking every input,
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output, and battery reading.
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And when you're out shooting
in the middle of nowhere,
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like we are, it's perfect
for keeping things running
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like camera batteries and cell phones.
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It can even power bigger items
too, like a full-size fridge.
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But this isn't your dad's
loud gas-chugging generator.
[107]
You can charge it up with home outlets,
[109]
your vehicle's car ports,
[111]
or if you're really off the grid,
[112]
you can use the big old
fireball in the sky,
[115]
which I'm not gonna look at.
[116]
That's right.
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You can charge this thing
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using Jackery's 100
Watts Solarsaga panels.
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Equipped with their Solar Peak technology,
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they're designed to
maximize power extraction,
[124]
allowing you to charge the
battery from zero to 80%
[127]
within four hours.
[128]
Very impressive.
[129]
So stop using that
noisy old gas generator.
[131]
Make the switch to electric
today by clicking the link
[133]
in the description below.
[135]
Now let's power back to the show.
[137]
(upbeat music)
[138]
From iPhones to John Deere
tractors, X-Box to Facebook,
[142]
right to repair has
become a blazing hot issue
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in industries around the world.
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Simply put right to repair
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requires original equipment manufacturers
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to provide consumers, and
independent businesses,
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the same access to repair
documentation, diagnostics,
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tools, service parts, and firmware
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as their authorized repair providers.
[161]
Think about going to an Apple Store
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versus going to the guy down the street
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that has the I fix cracked iPhone screens,
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or even trying to order
the parts yourself.
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Now, I don't have to tell
you that right to repair
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is also a huge deal in the auto industry.
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Not only are we dealing with
complex computer systems today,
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but we often can't even
access the gosh dang things
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because of stuff like impossible
to remove engine shrouds
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and lack of specialty tools.
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Anyone ever tried servicing
their BMW i8 by themselves?
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How'd that go?
[187]
Not very well, did it?
[189]
The reason this has turned
into such a poop storm
[191]
in recent years is because
many of the biggest companies
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in the world want to limit our access.
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But why?
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OEM's say that sharing
their repair information
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will diminish quality,
tarnish their reputations,
[204]
and risk copyright infringements.
[206]
They've also argued that
consumers could damage the product
[209]
or hurt themselves if they attempt
[211]
to hack these new computer systems.
[213]
As a result, even if a
customer wanted to try
[215]
to fix their ride, many
manufacturers void warranties
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if they get even the slightest whiff
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of any outside maintenance.
[222]
(Nolan sniffs)
What is that, an oil change?
[226]
On the other side,
independent repair shops
[228]
and consumers argue that automakers
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are keeping this information from us
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because of one reason,
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money.
(cash register dings)
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I would pull cash out of my wallet,
[237]
but I don't have any.
[238]
Companies want to protect
their authorized providers
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and force us to pay for repairs.
[242]
Needless to say, independent repair shops
[244]
and consumers are fed up
and want the government
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to force manufacturers to
share their product information
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with the general public.
[250]
Ah, time for some good
old-fashioned, American politics.
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Get those papers in line.
[256]
We gotta talk to the ambassador.
[257]
That's a worst idea then JD
Salinger going on vacation,
[259]
blah, blah, blah.
[260]
Some reference to
playwrights I don't know.
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We have to go way back
to 1990 to understand
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how the right to repair battle began.
[268]
That year Congress passed the
Clean Air Act Amendments bill,
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which required all
vehicles built after 1994
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to contain a computer
system to track emissions.
[277]
You may know it as OBD1.
[279]
For the first time manufacturers
were working with rare,
[281]
expensive technology that the common man
[284]
had absolutely no access to.
[286]
Advocacy groups for
independent repair shops
[288]
knew this was gonna be an issue.
[290]
So they made sure that
the 1990 bill also said
[293]
that manufacturers had to share
the new emissions technology
[295]
with consumers.
[297]
The problem was that
as the decade went on,
[299]
technology rapidly developed
and new vehicles began
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to rely on their computers
for a hell of a lot more
[305]
than just emissions tracking.
[306]
Traditional diagnostics
went out the window.
[308]
Throttle by wire, steer by wire,
[310]
everything was now controlled by the ECU
[312]
or at least linked to it.
[313]
And that meant that if
your engine light came on,
[316]
it was vague and you didn't
know what was wrong with it.
[318]
You needed to pay someone
to plug in their scanner
[320]
because cheap OBD scanners
weren't available at the time.
[324]
Repairing vehicles was
now a high-tech operation.
[326]
And there was no law
requiring car companies
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to provide the necessary intel
for computer-based repairs
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to anyone on the outside.
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Do you see how this could be a problem?
[335]
By the time the 2000s rolled around,
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consumers had had enough.
[339]
Right to repair was considered
at the federal level
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for years, but it wasn't until 2012,
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that any real progress was made.
[346]
That year, Massachusetts passed
the Right-to-Repair bill,
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which meant that finally
car companies were required
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to provide independent
shops the same technology
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that their authorized
providers were given.
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Hallelujah.
(sound echoes)
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The Massachusetts bill led
to a nationwide memorandum
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of understanding where every
major car manufacturer,
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except Tesla who dodged it
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because they didn't have any dealerships
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or technicians outside of their plant,
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agreed to follow the
Massachusetts law as long
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as advocacy groups for independent
mechanics stopped trying
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for more right to repair legislation.
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At last, there was hope
for a level playing field.
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But would it last?
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The fact that I'm asking that
question, probably means no.
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All because one little word
was excluded from the bill.
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Telematics.
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Telematics is the communication technology
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that translates information
flowing to and from a vehicle.
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It's a constant give and take of data
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where your car's information
gets wirelessly transmitted
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to the manufacturer while
they're simultaneously
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pushing other data like weather forecasts,
[404]
stock market updates, a ton
of stuff back to the vehicle.
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It's kind of weird.
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Telematics started in the late
nineties, remember OnStar,
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but the advent of the smartphone,
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which led to rising consumer expectation
[416]
for constant connectivity
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is what really made the
technology take off.
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Obviously it's become a
massively important part
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of making repairs but
manufacturers have exclusive access
[426]
to the programs and the devices
required to understand it.
[429]
So once again, independent shops
[431]
and consumers don't have
the information they need
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to make their own repairs.
[435]
Everyone is rightfully pissed off.
[436]
Ah, I feel like we're
back in the nineties,
[438]
Braveheart, baseball, and blatant attempts
[441]
by car manufacturers to
hide technology from us
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through a loophole in the law.
[446]
Now, of course, manufacturers say
[448]
that by targeting the telematics
systems there's a conflict
[451]
with the federal Motor
Vehicle Safeties Act,
[454]
which says that OEMs are
required to protect customers
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from potentially dangerous repairs.
[458]
When was the last time we heard
about a guy blowing himself
[460]
up while changing his alternator?
[461]
They want consumers to
believe that this stranglehold
[464]
is actually helping them.
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Don't worry, little car customer.
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We're charging you this much
because you could get hurt
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if you try to fix it by yourself.
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I can't wait to tell you a
story about this a little later
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in the video, it is a good one.
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But first more legislation.
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In 2020 when a new right
to repair law was proposed
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in Massachusetts, things got
significantly more nasty.
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Lobbying groups for some
of the biggest car makers
[486]
on the planet tried various
angles of fear-mongering
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to sway voters against the bill,
[490]
including a warning that if
telematics were open-sourced,
[493]
sexual predators would hack
your personal information
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and follow you around town.
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Wow car lobby, that's what
you're going to go with?
[500]
Sex predators?
[501]
Awesome.
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Thankfully, the scare tactics didn't work.
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A whopping 75% of
Massachusettites, Massachusites,
[509]
Massachusettshin?
[510]
- [Offscreen] Mass holes.
[511]
- Mass holes.
[512]
Once again, voted for
landmark legislation.
[514]
Well done.
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This time by specifically
targeting telematics
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and requiring automakers to
provide an open source system
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beginning in 2022.
[522]
I say good on you Bay Staters, good job.
[524]
Another step in the
right direction is that
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in July of this year,
[527]
the president signed an executive order,
[529]
which encouraged the
Federal Trade Commission
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to consider beefing up their
anti-competitive restrictions.
[534]
And soon after the FTC voted
to increase their efforts
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to punish companies who
violate right to repair laws.
[539]
Hey, that sounds pretty good,
but I sense another problem.
[542]
The executive order may
sound like a nice win
[545]
and it kind of is, but when it comes
[546]
to the automotive industry,
we still have plenty
[549]
to be concerned about.
[550]
Remember that memorandum
automakers agreed to back in 2012,
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the one where the companies
agreed to share their intel
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as long as right to repair
advocates stopped pushing
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for more laws?
[559]
Well, because of that car
manufacturers threatened
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to throw a major fit.
[563]
So the new executive order
excludes the automotive industry.
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(Nolan huffs laugh)
Yay.
[570]
As a result, reps from
several auto advocacy groups
[573]
are saying that the executive order
[575]
needs serious improvement.
[576]
But any suggested amendments are going
[577]
to be tough to come by because of groups
[579]
like the Alliance for
Automotive Innovation,
[581]
a consulting firm that's
been paid tens of millions
[583]
of dollars by some of the
heaviest hitters in the game.
[586]
We're talking Nissan, GM,
Ford, Toyota, Volkswagen.
[589]
All of them have been challenging
the new Massachusetts law
[591]
and fending off similar
bills in other states.
[594]
(sighs)
Shocker.
[595]
That is pretty depressing but
I gotta share one funny story
[597]
that happened earlier this
month that's hopefully a sign
[600]
of things to come.
[601]
So Ford paid $4 million
to a cybersecurity firm
[604]
to challenge the new Massachusetts bill.
[607]
The same one that came up with
the sex predator ad campaign.
[610]
Well on August 15th, a few weeks ago,
[612]
news broke that a bug
was discovered at Ford
[614]
and they actually failed
to protect their own data.
[617]
That's right.
[618]
The very risk they argued
as being the whole reason
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they need to keep their
telematics private turned out
[624]
to bite them in the butt.
[625]
Employee records, customer databases,
[628]
finance account numbers,
[629]
a ton of Ford intel was compromised.
[631]
Man, I would have loved to
have been in the meeting
[633]
after that news broke.
(explosion sound)
[635]
All of this legal stuff, money,
[637]
and politics makes you
wonder if this is just going
[639]
to keep happening.
[640]
Will technology continues
to develop so quickly
[643]
that this gap in repair
capabilities grows even wider?
[645]
Will ordinary people
ever have the opportunity
[648]
to work on their own cars again?
[649]
Look it's obvious that
the line between cars
[652]
and computers is gonna
become more and more blurred
[654]
in the coming years.
[655]
We all want faster, newer, cooler vehicles
[657]
and with new car sales
at an all time high,
[659]
the issues concerning right to repair
[661]
clearly aren't stopping
us from buying them.
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We can't help ourselves
but that doesn't mean
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that manufacturers shouldn't
be held accountable
[668]
or that there's nothing
consumers can do about it.
[670]
Throughout this glorious history lesson,
[672]
we've learned that legislation
is often decades behind
[675]
when addressing these problems.
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The new Massachusetts law
and the executive order
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will hopefully lead to
more progress nationwide.
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But that's only going
to happen if politicians
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and state governments propose
new bills in the first place.
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This is where we actually
do have some power.
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We might not be able to
work on our cars anymore,
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but by God, we could still vote.
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Democracy, contact your representatives
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at both the state and federal level
[698]
and let them know that you want to control
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how your vehicle's data
is used and by whom.
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Remind them that many of
these all-American companies,
[705]
ironically have some very
un-American takes on repair laws.
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You know who you are.
[710]
The big takeaway as usual is that we got
[713]
to make our voices heard.
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You know, I love bugging
state government officials.
[717]
So go do it for yourself as well.
[719]
I got to give a big shout
out to Louis Rossmann.
[721]
He's a right to repair activist
[722]
and has a great YouTube channel
[724]
where he breaks down right to repair laws
[725]
across a bunch of different industries.
[727]
I got a boatload of
information from his videos.
[729]
And if you want to learn
more about this topic,
[730]
I can't recommend his channel enough.
[732]
Check him out.
[733]
I'll leave a link down in the
description to Louis' channel.
[735]
New shirt alert.
[737]
(Nolan laughs)
That's stupid.
[738]
♪ Give It the Beans ♪
[741]
♪ At Beans ♪
[743]
♪ Beans ♪
[745]
You guys can't get
enough of our catchphrase
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and we can't get enough designing clothes.
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That's why we came out
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with our third Give It the Bean shirt.
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This one's with a can.
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On the front you got your
Give It the Beans can.
[755]
And on the rear,
[756]
you got a gaggle of cans on the back
[758]
in all different modern styles.
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That's a little art history joke for you.
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Very sleek, very street, very, very hip.
[764]
Get your Give It the Bean
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[768]
Only 29.98.
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Give it the beans and get one today.
[774]
Thank you very much for
watching Wheelhouse this week.
[776]
Yeah, it's an important issue.
[777]
And I think more of you
should know about it.
[779]
If you're a Donut super freak,
[780]
check out that join button down below,
[782]
you can join the Donut Underground.
[783]
You get access to behind the scenes video,
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[788]
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[789]
Follow Donut on all
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[791]
Follow me @nolanjsykes.
[793]
Be kind, see ya next time.
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