Fight to Repair Daily: Friday October 21, 2022
How high tech autos are killing the repair business. FTC proposal will strengthen right to repair. Also: decompiling software to fix an old solar inverter.
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High tech cars are killing the auto repair shop
Over the past decade, cars have gotten more complex and computerized. Each vehicle is now studded with sensors, packed with hundreds or thousands of computer chips, and controlled by software. Auto industry insiders have waxed poetic about the safety benefits of the “software-defined vehicle”—which also enables revenue-boosting data collection and subscriptions that make it safer to be an auto executive too.
Less talked about are the consequences of computerized cars at the auto shop. Fixing complex vehicles requires increasingly expert and expensive knowledge, and tools that are in limited supply. It’s part of the same trend that has driven some farmers to hack their own tractors and triggered legal fights over what rights consumers have over their own vehicles. (Wired.com)
New Jersey law would make automobile hardware subscriptions illegal
One of the most egregious moneymaking trends in the auto industry today is the rise of the subscription feature. We're also starting to see automakers sell cars with built-in hardware features that must be activated through a subscription. BMW is a notable example here; in markets like Korea and the United Kingdom, the company offers a subscription for features like heated seats. Tesla provides another example. It ships every car with the hardware required for its "Full Self Driving" feature but charges a fee—just increased from $12,000 to $15,000 in September—to activate it.
Some legislators in New Jersey are unhappy about that business model. In late September, Assemblymen Paul Moriarty and Joe Danielsen introduced a bill that would prohibit car makers or dealers from offering subscriptions in New Jersey for any feature that uses hardware already installed on the vehicle at the time of purchase unless that feature would represent an ongoing expense to the dealer, manufacturer, or a third party.
The bill exempts third-party services like satellite radio or Wi-Fi and establishes penalties of up to $10,000 for a first offense and up to $20,000 for subsequent violations. (Ars Technica)
Decompiling software to fix an old solar inverter
It’s a fact of life that electronic devices become obsolete after a few years. Sometimes this is because technology has moved on, but it can also happen that a perfectly functional device becomes near-useless simply because the original manufacturer no longer supports it. When [Buy It Fix It] found a pair of second-hand Power-One Aurora solar inverters, he ran into an issue for which he needed access to the service menu, which happened to be password-protected. The original manufacturer had ceased to exist, and the current owner of the brand name was unable to help, so [Buy It Fix It] had to resort to reverse engineering to find the password.
Thanks to the Wayback Machine over at the Internet Archive, [Buy It Fix It] was able to download the PC software bundle that originally came with the inverters. But in order to access all features, a password was required that could only be obtained by registering the unit with the manufacturer. That wasn’t going to happen, so [Buy It Fix It] fired up dnSpy, a decompiler and debugger for .NET programs. After a bit of searching he found the section that checked the password, and by simply copying that section into a new program he was able to make his own key generator.
With the service password now available, [Buy It Fix It] was able to set the inverter to the correct voltage setting and hook it up to his solar panels. Interestingly, the program code also had references to “PONG”, “Tetris” and “tiramisu” at various places; these turned out to be Easter eggs in the code, containing simple versions of those two games as well as a photo of the Italian dessert. (Hackaday.com)
'Right to Repair' progresses in Maine, but automakers are pushing back
Kurt Hamel believes it's becoming harder to do his job.
The district manager of VIP Tires & Service walked to a Lincoln SUV at the company's Scarborough workshop and plugged in a diagnostic computer. Moments later, he pointed to the screen.
The information he wanted about the temperature of the car's catalytic converter instead read, "Not supported." Without that information, Hamel said he couldn't tell if the part was overheating, thus causing the car's check-engine light to come on. He was operating with blind spots.
"Think about it as you’ve got a map with an X on it, right? There’s a process for you to get to that X," Hamel explained. "So, that’s what you’re getting; you’re getting a map with an X on it and without the information to be able to get to that X."
Hamel argued that while car manufacturers are producing more and more advanced models with thousands of data points in their computer systems, the companies restrict access to some of that data.
"It's your car; it's your data," Winkeler said. "If you want that data to go back to the car manufacturer, great. But if you want that data to be accessible by an independent repair shop, then that should be your choice because you own the car; you should own the data." (Newscentermaine.com)
FTC Proposal Could Strengthen Right to Repair
The US Federal Trade Commission is asking for public comment on a new initiative that would require companies to provide repair instructions with household appliances with the yellow EnergyGuide label. The initiative would also call for manufacturers to provide consumers with more energy efficiency information.
"As prices rise, the Commission will continue to take aggressive action to protect consumers' pocketbooks and strengthen their right to repair their own products," said Samuel Levine, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection.
The FTC said in a 2021 report that it found little evidence to support manufacturers' justification for restricting repair information.
"Access to this information will strengthen consumers' right to repair damaged products, without the need to go back to the manufacturer, providing them with potentially lower-cost repair options," the FTC wrote.
If passed, this initiative would be the latest win for the right-to-repair movement. (CNET.com)
Texas Rep. Gonzalez talks right to repair
The Aftermarket Auto Parts Alliance hosted U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales of the 23rd District of Texas at its San Antonio headquarters. The Congressman joined Alliance executive staff members to discuss the aftermarket industry’s most pressing issues for warehouse distributors and shop customers, The Alliance said. The discussion also focused on the American consumer and the critical need for the driver to access their vehicle’s data. (TireReview.com)