Manufacturers Still Voiding Warranties Illegally - Ep. 7.413 

"Our tax dollars hard at waste." Best statement I've heard today.

John Deere is notorious for voiding warranties on their equipment to the point the farmers association in Nebraska went to the Nebraska government to get the to step in. Deere won't give the owners of the equipment the software to diagnose the problems and force people to trailer the equipment to the shop sometimes costing up to 5 grand in transport. Some farmers have had to hack the computer system on the equipment which of course voids the warranty.

The first name people think of when right to repair comes up is Louis Rossmann.

Steve, one of the biggest problems in our society (from my perspective) is government failing to enforce exiting laws. What are our options to compel the government to do it's job and enforce the laws? Passing more laws clearly isn't the answer.

I had a customer who had a pool heater, they said that it would void the warranty if they had it fixed. I installed a new fan motor as the factory part was 7 weeks out. When the phoned that they where coming to fix it. I want back ahead of them and put the old motor in, so they could fix it.

The worst part of the right to repair is when the manufacturer disables the device like a cell phone or tractor detects a non official repair work.

For those wanting to learn more go to Louis Rossmann channel. He has a electronic repair shop in New York and has been doing videos on this for years. One of the things he has highlighted is manufactures inventing special fasteners and tools for those fasteners and then patenting them so they can go after anyone that tries to sell the tools so others can access the piece of equipment.

I tried to order a replacement fan blade from Vornado because their "shop" fan model dropped and broke the blade. It wasn't even on at the time. They voided the warranty because I fixed it myself using a Honeywell fan blade. Quote from them: "However by modifying your unit with a different blade, you voided all warranty." But they also explained that it warranty was only for the motor and electrical. They were happy to sell me their fan blade for $20. (This is an 8" fan.) I bought the entire Honeywell fan for $15. And this is why we buy from China.... at least we know what we're getting. This whole "Buy American!" hogwash is stupid if the American companies ask for premium prices and then walk away from the support aspect of it.

Let’s not get into the issue that manufactures contractually oblige their part suppliers not sell to anyone but them so they can’t be fixed.

Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act is great for products that are supposed to still be under warranty but Right to Repair as a whole is intended to stop the predatory actions by manufacturers who go out of their way to inhibit customers from repairing products they purchased both under warranty and after that warranty has expired. If I own a smart phone that had a 1 year warranty and I want to replace the camera sensor because it failed after 18 months, some manufacturers will cause the device to become completely inoperable even if you replace the camera sensor with another working sensor from that manufacturer. In this example, the phone is not under warranty anymore but is still an otherwise perfectly usable device, save for a broken camera. Right to Repair seeks to ensure manufacturers cannot continue to control the fate of devices after sale by ensuring the tools, schematics, manuals, etc. are made available to independent repair facilities. Thank you for the video Mr. Lehto.

This topic needs more media attention. Keep spreading the word (I'm also a Louis Rossman fan).

Great coverage of this. About a week ago Louis Rossman - another RU-vidr - started a GoFundMe to hire the same firm that got an automotive right-to-repair law passed through a ballot initiative in Mass. This one would be for an electronic right-to-repair ballot initiative.

I like Zippo's warranty on their lighters. If it breaks for any reason they will fix it (if possible or replace it (if it can't be fixed) free of charge. People have intentionally destroyed lighters in bizarre ways to test the replacement warranty. Zippo has been doing this for decades.

The problem with appliance repair when it comes to refrigerator or washing machines ect is there is never parts available to fix it. They tell you it's months before they're available or worse they don't know when they'll be able to get the parts. It forces consumers to waste money replacing whole units.

I smell some 13¢ class action checks in my future.

After high school, I worked as a professional mechanic for about seven years (I'd graduated from a trade school where I'd excelled in auto mechanics.). A few years after high school, I bought a brand new Pontiac Firebird from a dealer nearby. Within a couple of months, the speedometer cable broke. I brought the car to the Pontiac dealer to have it repaired. They didn't have that particular cable and it had to be ordered. Then it was backordered. After over a month without a speedometer they told me it was in and that I should bring the car in to have the cable installed. I did so. Within four weeks the cable broke again. I took the card back to the Pontiac dealer and demanded that they fix it. They refused, saying that I must have done something to cause the cable to break. I insisted and the owner of the dealership and I got into a yelling match in the parking lot - 60-year-old versus 20-year-old. I lost, he threw me off the premises and had me trespassed. By this time, with the help of my father who'd co-signed the loan, I'd purchased my own business, a service station with an automotive repair shop. Pissed off at the Pontiac dealer I got on the phone to Pontiac Motor Company in Michigan and demanded to speak to the CEO. They kept turning me over to people who were not the CEO and I got angrier and angrier. I called every day for nearly a week and finally a fellow who came on the line who claimed to be the CEO. I then raised hell with him over the dealer's shoddy work and demanded that, given my qualifications, I be allowed to do my own warranty work on my car. He agreed. In those days, every dealer had an in-house credit card to do warranty work with. The service manager would hold the card. When an invoice for warranty work was done, the service manager would charge the warranty-paid portion of the work to that card. About ten days after my conversation with that fellow at Pontiac, I received my own warranty card in the mail. From that point on, until I sold that car, I did all the work on the car. Any parts I needed, I would order the parts over the phone from the Pontiac dealer who didn't like me, then show up and pay for the parts with the warranty credit card. Every time I walked in that dealership and he saw me buying parts with that card, the dealer would insist that I remain until he called Pontiac in Michigan and verified that the card was still legit. I would always walk out the door holding my card up for him to see while silently mouthing 'fuck you' to the guy. It felt good to teach that old prick a lesson..

Harley Davidson illegally voiding my warranty after 3 years of not being able to fix my bike was the best thing that ever happened to me.i fixed it myself and 56k miles later still no problems.

We bought our washing machine at Lowe's. When they couldn't get warranty parts or repair in a timely manner, they simply gave us a new one. We'll buy our next one there too.

Well how do you expect the FTC to enforce something like that if when they do they might not get those nice lobbying positions with big paychecks after they leave the FTC?

Without enforcement, it is of no effect.

I guess law does not matter, only lobbies for the big companies, not the people.

This man became a hero today.

This is why any time I purchase a device that has a "Warranty void if removed or broken" type of seal, I remove it from the device, since it's illegal in the US. Then I ask them, "How much money do you want to waste on your VERY expensive lawyers in small claims court proving that I damaged it by breaking this seal?" if they try to void my warranty. It's worked EVERY time.

Should work with @LouisRossmann. He is HUGE in the right-to-repair field out of NYC. He's been going around public hearings.

This is big problem in the medical industry. I have had manufacturers refuse to sell me a part as simple as a knob They insist that only their tech can do this. This is well after the end of warranty by the way. I know hospitals that had to pay to fly in repair techs for the simplest of repairs. Ironically if you take out a service contact with them they will send you the same part no problem.

If you're entitled to court and attorney fees if you win, by law, how can a judge not award that?

Louis Rossmann has a big following for this. Let's support him on this.

I think we might also need to talk about e-commerce, specifically Amazon. Too often the response from manufacturers is "sorry we can't honor your warranty, you didn't purchase from an authorized seller". Very convenient excuse.

I bought 2 USB Xbox 360 controllers on ebay once (likely knockoffs). One of them arrived with a broken button inside. I opened it up and took some pictures told the seller that there was no need to send it back told them how much it would cost me to fix it myself and they gave me a partial refund. And this was a Chinese seller. Kind of lucky. They really like those positive feedbacks.

They still play warranty games. Example: our brand new 5500 watt, $900 300# gasoline generator .. brand new and failed immediately. Under warranty for two years but cannot take back to the retailer for replacement but must ship to manufacturer and then wait on them diddling whether they get it repaired or replaced in an undefined amount of time. Yeah .. ship 300# and wait meanwhile without the availability should it's need arise during a power outage. Great stuff eh?

Back in the older days when I was working on television and stereo both of these items had a printout of all the parts inside the panels of the TV and stereo when you wanted to fix it yourself. But today you don't see that inside of the stereo or a TV.

Imagine your under warranty, or 3 year old 2500$(or more) refrigerator breaks down and they tell you they can schedule you two months out. How do you function out of a cooler, with a family, for 2 months? A real hardship that many people go through.

I chuckle at the aftermarket oil filter because I owned a 1988 Hyundai Excel GS and when I went to change me oil I could not fit my hand or an oil filter wrench to take the filter off. I took it to.a quick change place who pierced the filter with a screwdriver to remove it and replaced it with a half height oil filter. Problem solved?

i was in the printing business. bought new equipment (from a national company) from a local dealer, which closed shortly after. when i called for warranty service i was told i would have to pay $225.00 for "travel time" from another dealer.the repairman said he would have to go back to get parts. you guessed it! i would have to pay travel time again! call to home office did get me satisfaction from a very nice woman. i feel someone else on that call would have been different outcome.

This isn't 100% related but I like when you buy something in a package that is destroyed during opening, then find out that returns must be in original packaging.

They can kick rocks. I've been fixing my stuff for years. and will continue to do so.

I once did a service on a cement mixer with a Deutz V-8 air cooled diesel. A week or so later it came back running poorly and the problem was diagnosed as a broken lifter and I eventually found a part of an internal oil filter gasket in the oil galley feeding the camshaft. I took pictures and recovered the gasket piece and sent them to Fleetguard, a large manufacturer of heavy duty equipment filters. They, to their credit, and with no threats whatsoever, covered the repair of that engine.

This is depressing because we all know that NOTHING is ever going to be done about this!

When we bought machines, some of which cost over $500,000, we specified in the purchase contract that parts manuals, service manuals, electrical schematics and hydraulic schematics were to be included. The contracts were usually written for one third with the order, the second third paid when it shipped and the third installment once it was in operation. They didn't get the third payment until all of the manuals and schematics were there. There was a sweeper that the company bought and didn't make the third payment until over a year later because the manufacturer refused to supply the information. They were even foolish enough to go to court to try to get paid without supplying the information.

The problem I hve seen is when one company purchases another then refuses to honor the original warranty .... the name remained the same but the new company is now producing products somewhere else and states that parts for what you bought are no longer available so the warranty is no longer valid.

Thanks for taking on this issue Steve

Right to repair has been a real issue in tech for as long as i've been working in the field. I started as a computer repair tech back in the mid 80's, and schematics were not available if you weren't an authorized dealer. Luckily, the computers back then were simple enough that you really didn't need the schematics a lot of times, but it was not fun if you were an independent shop. I worked at an authorized shop, and occasionally an independent would bring in a machine they could not fix and basically pay us to fix it, so that they would not lose face with their customers. Fun times.

Thanks for bringing attention to the topic

I once got denied warranty coverage for a pair of LG bluetooth headphones because of "abuse". My abuse was normal daily use on my commute to work by bicycle. I could have probably tried to fight it, but instead I just warn people off buying LG products everywhere I can and will until the end of my time on this Earth.

Are you going to join hands with Louis Rossmann on Right to Repair now?

Louis Rossmann has a computer repair RU-vid channel and he is on a Right to Repair crusade.

Steve, I was in the auto repair business for many years, long ago I was told that if the manufacturer required that their part ( filters, oil, etc) were required, they had to supply them free of charge. I have never come across the issue, but it just doesn't sound right.

Just waiting for Louis to enter this comments section 😄👍

I had a Eagle Talon and the transmission blew and the warranty company (GE) refused to cover it. The service person at the dealership told me to file it in small claims because it should be covered. I did file it and a attorney for GE called me from Colorado and paid me over the phone.

Glad to see you getting behind this.

Magnasum-Moss was a saving grace for me. 2016 F150 with bad EPAS. Was in the shop a dozen times, and because I put 33,000 miles on in a year, blew through Lemon Law miles period before I reached the 3 repairs/30 days out of service in order to file. With 56,000 miles, nearing the 60K warranty limit, and issues still unresolved, I sued, I won, used the money to equal the inequity on the truck and traded it in on one I special ordered to replace it. Make sure you keep all records of repairs, all receipts, everything.

the way to get around the bmw car is to take it to a non bmw dealer, as here in nz we are covered by the consumers guarantee act, which means we have to contact the dealer and give them the chance to fix it, but if they dont we can use another dealer and send them the bill, the fines to companies that try to get out can be in the 100 thousands of dollars

What about the products that include a registration card. They say that you can't get the warranty UNLESS you fill out the registration card within a certain number of days...Is that legal? I see that all the time.

The problem here is that this affects citizens of the USA and the federal gooberment is no longer interested us. If this affected illegals, then they would be all for it.

Not a surprise. The FTC never doesn't do anything about Big Tech's obvious non-competitive practices, despite they already being against the law either!

I've been fixing (or trying to fix) stuff that broke in my parents home and now my home since I was a kid. Usually it was something simple that I could figure out, but now a lot of things are a bit more complicated and difficult to get the parts. However, I have repaired a broken tv by getting a part from a different broken tv (same make and model) for a fraction of the price of getting a whole new one. Spent roughly $1000 total for the 2 tvs, which would have ended up costing over $4000.

That's why anytime a salesman tries to sell me on a warranty, I tell them to shut-tf up and stop lying to me. I've had several warranties not honored, big and small.

Lowes has many products that says on the box, warranty void if box is opened. ???????

Question, Apple prevents supplies from making parts available to be used by independent repair shops. Is that a violation of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty act?

RU-vidr and mac book repairman Louis Rossman has started a nonprofit go fund me page to fight for the right to repair. they have already raised nearly half a mil. According to an article written by Duane Pozza and Roger Miksad in 2019 the Magnuson and Moss act was not drafted with digital devices in mind, and the FTC has struggled with understanding how best to apply it outside the motor industry. It is my opinion that should the right to repair act gain traction and passes legislature it would create precedent and clear the waters for the Mag and Moss act to be more effectively applied.

Just to be on the safe side I will go to dealer to have maintenance performed while under the warranty period. Then I go to independent afterwards. I don’t want to risk it.

I recall my Father talking about taking the car to the dealer once and getting flak because it didn't have a Mopar oil filter. This was way back in the mid 1970s though.

Worthy flag to raise. Thanks for this.

You know, I really learn a lot by watching your videos and truly enjoy them, but have to tell you that your "shower thoughts" at the end really finish it off!

Louis Rossman has a go fund me for a direct ballot initiative for right to repair. If you're reading this and care about right to repair you should check out his channel. He has a pretty solid idea of right to repair that I agree with.

A common complaint of Louis Rossman is that big companies will pressure manufacturers not to sell the parts needed for device repair to anybody except the retailer of that device (example, Apple doesn't want parts for its products being sold to other companies). Would this qualify as an illegal trust under anti-trust law?

at one point someone wanted the feds to eliminate 2 regulations for every one they create. probably the regulations that require the response by the FTC were easy targets for regulations to cancel.

Louis Rossman is a electronics repair business owner and RU-vid advocate for Right to Repair who is currently running a fundraiser to get a direct ballot initiative regarding right to repair in Massachusetts. It would be wonderful if his campaign were to get more exposure from your channel Mr. Lehto

Thank you for this. I posted in Louis Rossmann's discord. He's a huge right to repair advocate

I was told if I remove the tag from my mattress it would void my warranty

I met an attorney who said he makes money suing people. He got $500,000 from Computer manufacturers that put "made in usa" and changing to "made in the usa with foreign and domestic parts."

Highly recommend Louis Rossman videos on right to repair.

It's worse than you think, Steve. Buick offers free oil changes for new purchases, then claim the changes are only required at 6,000 miles. The owner's manual CLEARLY states the oil change cycle is 3,000 miles, but they insist the interval is 6,000 miles. When pressed, they complied with their own owner's manual, but it is clear they are trying to void there own warranties on purpose and with intent.

Yes, please stay up on Right to Repair. This is a big issue, and we appreciate hearing about it.

I am in the machine tool business. Our industry is overwhelmed with this practice. We will take a standard, commercially available part, like a bearing, modify it slightly and brand it an OEM part. It may be as simple as etching a line on the part. Use the original part and you just saved us big money. The price you pay for the machine has a large chunk dedicated to covering warranties. When our service tech calls in that he found after market parts, that $250k just shifted from the warranty column to the profit column. The entire warranty has now been voided because one part affects others and we can’t be sure their wasn’t “damage” due to that. Of course it’s a scam, but we’re undefeated in court so far. Read the print on the purchase agreement you’re signing

Steve, there is more to write to repair than just the legal ability to fix it yourself. There's also access to parts and access to information about how whatever it is you bought works. Looking at just one example in the field of tractor repair which is issue because of the cost of towing one of these bad boys to the dealer. You do something as simple as replace the alternator you have to reprogram the onboard computer to work with that new alternative, if you can't do that unless you have access to the dealer's software and electronic toolbox. All of that software's denied access farmers who can easily swap an alternator any day of the week and twice on Sunday and to Independent repair shops like to house calls instead of a huge tow bill that the dealer would require. Lewis Rossman in New York sites apples example where they will buy a certain ship from a chipmaker and contractually obligate them to sell that s*** only back to Apple, preventing any independent repair shops from flying them fixing Apple products. None of the current warranty laws at the state or federal level cover these situations and mandate access to information, software and parts needed to fix modern technology.

I really enjoy your clarity and content. Thank you for your service

I bought a 12 volt water pump at a local Tractor supply, 3 months later, it stops working, I go to the store, and want to exchange it , for a replacement, the store manager,,,,, why the manager has to get involved with exchanging a $130. item, i have no idea, The women says its a "limited warranty" I said limited to what ....all it should do is pump water.... and it no longer does ,,,,she eventually exchanged it , but what nonsense .

It goes substantially deeper than just to voiding warranties. Even after the warranty has expired, manufacturers employ strategies to prevent other repair shops from repairing their products so that they have a monopoly on the repair business. They put serialized devices into batteries so that the device will refuse to operate unless their certified technicians changed the battery. They make illicit agreements with part manufacturers to prevent critical parts from being available to private companies. They lobby federal, state, and local representatives to "protect their intellectual property" from "reverse engineering" even when the technology is so out-dated that "they cannot afford to support it any longer." If device owners cannot get the devices repaired, then their options are reduced to doing without the device or to purchasing a new device. Ecologically and politically, this is destructive, but financially this makes more sales and money.

I've used Costco to refill my HP printer ink cartridges for years in the same printer. After a recent "update", the recently refilled WORKING cartridge won't work now. I had to toss it & spend $47 on a new one.

Isn’t the onus on the manufacturer to prove that that aftermarket oil filter or whatever it may be is the cause of the failure?

Another example of bogus claims of abuse by manufacturer are the so-called moisture indicators on Apple brand circuit boards in their products. These indicators are known to erroneously indicate exposure to moisture in humid climates. Apple will try to claim moisture damage even in cases where no liquid was spilled on the computer if these indicators are activated.

As an auto technician I find this useful and great information to have and share with customers.

I have complained to the ftc more than once and no one ever does sh!! Thanks for the video!

Many years ago I had a customer who had bought a new Mercedes. He lived most of his life in Germany, and his vision wasn't as good as it could have been. He really noticed how much better the headlights were in Germany so he bought a set of factory German model headlights for his Mercedes, and I put them on the car. The headlights actually used the same bulb. The next time he took the car to the dealer the dealer tried to void the warranty on the entire vehicle. This was a bad move. The man's wife was a lawyer who specialized in class action lawsuits, and I knew that they were off the hook for the headlight housing and lens reflector and so forth but that was it. A group of owners who had made minor changes that they had either actually voided the warranty or threatened to do so sent the dealer a letter that they intended to sue. The warranties were reinstated and the dealer agreed not to do this anymore as a condition for the lawsuit being dropped.

This is why I watch Steve's videos. Excellent!!!

Steve, here is something you might find interesting with regard to factory warranties. On a car warranty, like Ford (I used to work for a Ford Dealership). They get very clever in the small print. They state; "if the failure of a covered repair is caused by the failure of a non-covered part, then the entire repair under warranty is void. Here is a case where I was able to get a customer about two grand back concerning a warranty repair. The owner of the dealership used to have different things that he wanted to try out, so he would put me on these projects. One of these was having me call service customers and follow up on our warranty and non-warranty repairs. One day, I called up a customer and we ended up shooting the breeze. He was telling me about when he had to have his engine completely rebuilt and even though he had purchased a Ford Red Carpet warranty, he was made to pay the bill. This guy had left a service plaza north of West Palm Beach and soon after getting up to highway speed, his engine suddenly quit. He was towed to a very small dealer by Lake Okeechobee. For the reason, mentioned above, they discovered that a lower hose had broken, the oil leaked out and the engine suddenly seized up. I will add that this guy was a pilot so he was used to paying attention to sounds, vibrations and instruments. I told him, that I was going to do some research and call him back tomorrow. I had been shown the warranty service manual and they had me read over it as a reference. I had remembered that part and something else. There was an "*" with a footnote that said "except in Florida" (This was a service manual for the SE United States. To regress, during the 70's, people would come down to S. Florida from NY and NJ. They would open up a store. One that comes to mind was an appliance store by the name of Kennedy and Cohen. Their method of operation was to sell an appliance at a low cost and then talk the customer into an extended ten year warranty at what appeared to be an excellent deal. It was like, no out of pocket costs. After a few years, warranty claims started coming in. Someone's refrigerator would break down. When the service man would examine the fridge, he would inform the customer that the failure of the compressor was caused by the failure of the belt that was turning the compressor, since the "rubber band" that was turning the compressor was not covered by the warranty, then the compressor was not covered and the customer had to pay for both parts and labor. This and other companies, with their many S. Florida locations, had endless complaints coming in to Tallahassee. In a very rare move, the state legislature made this practice illegal. Under state law, they did not have to cover the cost of the rubber band, but they did have to cover the part that died and was covered by the extended warranty. The next day, I called our customer back and explained this to him. He verified this with Tallahassee and then sent a certified letter of complaint to Ford's warranty department in Dearborn MI. A couple of days later, he was called by the secretary to the head of Ford warranty dept. (which I believe, is part of Ford Financial Services). The next day, he received a check by FedEx, in full compensation for his engine repairs. Here is where the teeth of the law come into play. Extended warranties are sold by the finance department of a dealer. This department must be licensed by the state to write finance contracts and to sell extended warranties. Because of this, the State of Florida has the authority to suspend the writing of all extended warranties from Ford, in the State of Florida. Florida regulates the sale of insurance policies within the state and an extended warranty is considered to be ab insurance policy. Just a note to people who live in Florida. NEVER buy an extended warranty from an out of state company. If they don't cover the terms of the warranty, you have little to no practical recourse. Buy from a dealership's finance department and you hold a lot of power. You can see from Steve's video why this is so important!

LG refused to replace my phone because they said I had to have a "residential address" as they claimed they couldn't send anything to a post office box or my employer.

Well.... This video explains, exactly why I had such trouble getting a lawyer, when I purchased NEW (not used), a FCA 2017 Dodge Journey, which I had to take back to Rick Hendrick CDJR (dealership) and other dealers, a total of FOURTEEN times, in the first year of ownership... I had a NWS meteorologist ask if MY OWN CAR was my rental car for this week.... Auto manufacturers and dealers are SO scummy....

I'm glad you're giving attention to the right-to-repair subject. It is very important. In automotive, thanks to efforts in the past, we now have a lemon law, schematics are available, oil filters and other parts are available from 3rd-party suppliers. But at consumer electronics manufacturers are still allowed to screw with us. Printers will only print when OEM cartridges are fitted, which contain OEM ink. Imagine if your car would limit itself to max 15mph if you would install a 3rd-party oil filter! Or worse: that for example Ford would make cars that have that genuine-oil-filter-protection built-in and that Ford would restrict their oil-filter supplier to sell that genuine Ford oil filter only to Ford, so nobody would be able to even get hold of a Ford oil filter, to be able to change it by themselves. So your only choice would be: go to the Ford dealer, or, have a car that goes 15mph max. Well, Apple already does this: replacement chips for modern iPhones are unobtainable. For example, the chip that charges the battery. Same function as needed in all smartphones, no exception. But Apple changed it a bit to make it unique to Apple. And Apple made sure that no one but Apple can buy that chip from the chip manufacturer. So you have no other choice than bringing that iPhone to an Apple Store, in order to have it fixed, IF they can fix it. (they won't fix older models; you're supposed to buy new). If they can fix it, you'll pay premium price and your iphone's memory will be wiped when you get it back. All the while an independent repair shop will be able to replace that chip professionally without wiping your data. If they would be able to get a hold of such a chip. Or any other part. And what about farm equipment? Harvesters that quit working mid-harvest, because a sensor stops working and farmers have to wait for an authorized repair facility to come out and replace it. Because the manufacturer made sure that it cannot be replaced by the farmer himself. I get it. There's safety and emissions regulations and the manufacturer is probably liable if something happens in these areas. But at least give the farmers the option to assume liability, apply a temporary fix, and finish the harvest, instead of letting them wait and watch their crop wither away. So, at cars, we can have our windscreen fixed by any car glass company. But at iPhones, if the screen gets damaged, your only choice will be the Apple store. And you might think: this won't affect me, I'm using an Android phone. Well... Samsung is copying Apple's 'innovations'. Years ago, the battery was a user-replaceable item. Well, not anymore, thanks to Apple. If we don't do anything, all of the customer electronics will follow this direction. And the automotive industry is trying as well: on select cars, the oil dipstick has been replaced by electronics and there are brands that even chipped their starter battery so only OEM batteries will work. So, replace your battery by yourself and a few days later you won't be able to start your car. Nice job, BMW. And electric cars... They all contain a powerful battery and a heavy-duty inverter that is perfectly able to generate 120V, 240V AC and even 3-phase, but none offer it as an option. Would be very handy on camping trips, for work outdoors or in case of grid failure. But even if you would have the skillset that would enable you to add that by yourself safely, then they'll probably punish you by remotely disable features like fast-charge, driving assists and possibly even the ability to drive altogether.

I had a VCR back in the nineties that blew an internal fuse due to a power surge as it would have took forever to get it repaired I took the top off found out the fuse had blown, changed it and it was fine for all the time i had it. My small repair solved the problem but I expect if it needed warranty repair later I would have been knocked back but so be it.

Another issue is working on it after the warranty. I had a Samsung TV which they repaired under warranty. But when it failed after the warranty period, they refused to even look at it saying they only worked on TVs under warranty! I told them I'd pay for it and they said it didn't matter, they didn't work on TVs out of warranty at all!

I'm curious what good is new laws going to do? We already have laws that they ignore...

When I bought my2016 Kia, I was told by the service rep that if the engine failed the warrenty would be denied if it didn't have a Kia oil filter on it. Period.

Goes hand-in-hand with product protection plans hawked at retailers like Best Buy, Target and so on.

Good morning Steve

Kia/Hyundai have tried that stuff as late as like 2013 with the oil filters. Voiding engine warranty on an already problematic engine. What most people dont realize either is that there are only so many manufacturers of products. Some brands may use a slightly different material or design, but they 90% are reboxed from a certain manufacturer. When I worked at Napa for years, it would be funny when we'd get a new order of electronics like say map sensors and the 1 part # would literally have scratched out oe part #s on the whole lot. Then the next part # would be made by say Delphi. Although we sold the Delphi line too but was always more expensive. So just like many things we have a bunch of reboxing companies out there, so in no way should we be punished unless there is proof of failure do to an aftermarket product. Back to the oil and filters. Bob is the oil guy is a great website for consumer info. With many cut open filters to show how similar most are.

Right to repair has been increasingly about software in vehicles/equipment where literally it can be turned off by the manufacturer. its this that's the most troubling because it forces a owner to update/buy software at the whim of the manufacturer by no longer supporting it so you have pay again just for a patch at times to get it going again.

Good overview, glad to see PIRG in the US is still going strong. Failure to enforce should itself be a class action, but to complex to pursue i assume. Steve: as a Tesla owner with nine problems in 18 months, I'd like the Canadian status of our enforcement and fight. I know you know a little bit about the differences in Canadian law and approaches based on your video about Stellantis pulling out of the auto makers consortium; i can't find another channel to inform me as well as yours on this side of the border.

The manufacturers have learned they can make and keep more money by doing such activities