Ford doesn't want you to fix your own vehicle.

[Jim Oaks]

Apparently, Ford, GM, and Roger Penske (who owns 200 new car dealerships) met with the White House on the 3rd wanting legislation that would prevent people from being able to repair their own vehicles.

President Trump discussed what the auto manufacturers wanted and that a guy got sentenced to 7-years for fixing a vehicle. Some of the media is acting like he doesn't know what he's talking about and that it never happened, but it did. A simple search will give you this:

"Former President Donald Trump recently revealed that he pardoned Troy Lake, a 65-year-old Wyoming diesel mechanic, who had been sentenced to seven years in federal prison for removing emissions control devices from diesel engines in school buses, ambulances, and fire trucks.

Lake’s prosecution under the Clean Air Act stemmed from his work in rural Wyoming, where extreme winter weather often causes emissions equipment to fail. To keep these critical vehicles operational, he removed or bypassed emissions controls so the engines could run. While the modifications were intended to prevent breakdowns and keep public services running, they violated federal environmental laws. Lake was convicted of conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act and served about seven months in prison before Trump’s pardon Daily Headlines. The case became a political flashpoint, with critics calling it an example of federal regulatory overreach targeting working men for keeping essential equipment running"

I'm not here to argue whether the guy was right or wrong, just clarifying who the President was referring to.

I've been annoyed with Ford because they lead the industry in recalls, and in my opinion build a cheap product, but pay huge bonuses to their executives for profit goals. I think Increased profits + Increased recalls = bad math.

The more complex and unreliable new vehicles become, the more I don't want one.

I found this guys video talking about this recent meeting and right to repair:

 

[PetroleumJunkie412]

So... is this just for new vehicles, or would this mean that you just can't put a wrench to your own property?

I'm a bit confused here.

 

[Jazzer]

I think most of this comes from the increasing interrelation of software and hardware on new vehicles.

I’d guess they don’t want their proprietary software duplicated and used and the problems that might arise.

And I guess they came together so as to reduce public backlash.

Are we headed toward a subscription model for vehicles? You don’t own it, you lease it?

Keep wrenching on the old ones, boys.

 

[PetroleumJunkie412]

Apparently, Ford, GM, and Roger Penske (who owns 200 new car dealerships) met with the White House on the 3rd wanting legislation that would prevent people from being able to repair their own vehicles.

President Trump discussed what the auto manufacturers wanted and that a guy got sentenced to 7-years for fixing a vehicle. Some of the media is acting like he doesn't know what he's talking about and that it never happened, but it did. A simple search will give you this:

"Former President Donald Trump recently revealed that he pardoned Troy Lake, a 65-year-old Wyoming diesel mechanic, who had been sentenced to seven years in federal prison for removing emissions control devices from diesel engines in school buses, ambulances, and fire trucks.

Lake’s prosecution under the Clean Air Act stemmed from his work in rural Wyoming, where extreme winter weather often causes emissions equipment to fail. To keep these critical vehicles operational, he removed or bypassed emissions controls so the engines could run. While the modifications were intended to prevent breakdowns and keep public services running, they violated federal environmental laws. Lake was convicted of conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act and served about seven months in prison before Trump’s pardon Daily Headlines. The case became a political flashpoint, with critics calling it an example of federal regulatory overreach targeting working men for keeping essential equipment running"

I'm not here to argue whether the guy was right or wrong, just clarifying who the President was referring to.

I've been annoyed with Ford because they lead the industry in recalls, and in my opinion build a cheap product, but pay huge bonuses to their executives for profit goals. I think Increased profits + Increased recalls = bad math.

The more complex and unreliable new vehicles become, the more I don't want one.

I found this guys video talking about this recent meeting and right to repair:

Listened to your video.

Not any less confused about what, exactly, gm and ford are asking for here.

Are they asking for a prohibition on repairing older vehicles? On new vehicles? By independent repair shops? What about businesses like mine that have a staff mechanic? Is my mechanic no allowed to work on the fleet? What happens to the litany of support organizations and enterprises concerning maintenance and parts? Does this apply to manufacturers that no longer exist (i.e. Sterling, etc)? Do tires count as repairs? What about washer fluid? Oil changes? What, and who exactly, are the intended methods and agencies designated to enforce these policy changes?

If this is the auto industry's reaction to the incoming flood of $10,000 Chinese EVs, they are COOKED.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Listened to your video.

Not any less confused about what, exactly, gm and ford are asking for here.

Are they asking for a prohibition on repairing older vehicles? On new vehicles? By independent repair shops? What about businesses like mine that have a staff mechanic? Is my mechanic no allowed to work on the fleet? What happens to the litany of support organizations and enterprises concerning maintenance and parts? Does this apply to manufacturers that no longer exist (i.e. Sterling, etc)? Do tires count as repairs? What about washer fluid? Oil changes? What, and who exactly, are the intended methods and agencies designated to enforce these policy changes?

If this is the auto industry's reaction to the incoming flood of $10,000 Chinese EVs, they are COOKED.

Do you actually expect them to be entirely clear on what they mean? If they are purposefully vague then they can make any argument they want at any future point.

Auto makers and equipment manufacturers have wanted for a long time to prohibit the average person from making any repairs or modifications beyond replacing tires/brakes/oil/etc. Even that stuff they don’t really want you doing. They want everything to come back to the dealership for any service. They want full control and to be able to force you to spend money only at the dealership.

We’ve already seen this sort of thing with Tesla that caught a guy buying wrecked/damaged Tesla vehicles and stripping them for parts to be able to repair Tesla vehicles for others. Tesla came in and confiscated everything. You might have thought you paid for the Tesla, but the fine print says Tesla can come in and take it back if they don’t agree with what you’re doing.

 

[PetroleumJunkie412]

Do you actually expect them to be entirely clear on what they mean? If they are purposefully vague then they can make any argument they want at any future point.

Auto makers and equipment manufacturers have wanted for a long time to prohibit the average person from making any repairs or modifications beyond replacing tires/brakes/oil/etc. Even that stuff they don’t really want you doing. They want everything to come back to the dealership for any service. They want full control and to be able to force you to spend money only at the dealership.

We’ve already seen this sort of thing with Tesla that caught a guy buying wrecked/damaged Tesla vehicles and stripping them for parts to be able to repair Tesla vehicles for others. Tesla came in and confiscated everything. You might have thought you paid for the Tesla, but the fine print says Tesla can come in and take it back if they don’t agree with what you’re doing.

Follow up question, what's the legality of slapping a big block harbor freight lawnmower engine into a $10k chinese EV?

Because that, sadly, is the direction this is going.

Politics aside, anarcho-tyranny seems to be the direction of all of it.

Something like this has the power to put people like me out of business, and the 8 families that rely on me for jobs and an income in moderate to serious trouble. I don't much care for it.

EDIT: researching engine swapping an EV led me to this. V8 fellas take heed...

EPA Engine Swap Rules 2025: Why Your LS Swap Is Now Illegal | ThreePiece.us

Wheel fitment guides and build advice from ThreePiece.us. Learn specs, offsets, bolt patterns, tire sizing, and expert setup notes.

www.threepiece.us

 

[superj]

And this is also the kind of stuff, along with 2a stuff, that will cause fighting here in our lands between our own people.

It's already almost there with the Muslim importations. Lots of people think we should be doing the same thing ireland is doing

 

[cbxer55]

Sure they're going to want to repair my 98 Ranger. They don't even have parts for them. Same goes for my 2004 LIGHTNING. Can't get anything for it from Ford any longer. Mainly have to go to places online like LMR, Late Model Restoration. They have a lot of Lightning parts.

I get most of the stuff for my Ranger from CARiD.

 

[Uncle Gump]

Let's keep this about repairing vehicles.

Or not being able to repair vehicles.

I don't think race or religion has anything to do with the topic.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

 

[Curious Hound]

I saw a video the other day that alleged that a big company bought a lot of the parts companies and parts rebuilding companies like Cardone. Tjen, they shut it all down abdcwent out of business. So, supposedly, there is almost nobody rebuilding or reconditioning parts any more. This is getting ridiculous and it makes me very, very angry. This is America, home of the free.

I can't afford to buy new vehicles and I don't like most of them.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Yes, all the big corporations have bought out everything and ruined it, companies like WIX, Carter, Cardone, etc, many of the other companies are discontinuing parts that have been made for a long time like for example Bosch has discontinued some MAP sensors. Little companies like my work are having to buy parts from Summit like some Denso oxygen sensors because we're too small to get an account with Denso...

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Shits so complicated nowadays you can barely work on it yourself anyways

 

[pjtoledo]

Shits so complicated nowadays you can barely work on it yourself anyways

then go get a tractor, preferably a John Deere.

the damn software is what's really screwing things up. it's licensed not purchased.
hell, I can't even replace the rear pads on the 2019 Edge without going into a program to lock them as "safe".

wish I had a place to store a few older vehicles. working on what I have now is sort of my retirement hobby.

 

[Curious Hound]

then go get a tractor, preferably a John Deere.

the damn software is what's really screwing things up. it's licensed not purchased.
hell, I can't even replace the rear pads on the 2019 Edge without going into a program to lock them as "safe".

wish I had a place to store a few older vehicles. working on what I have now is sort of my retirement hobby.

So, you haven't heard about how John Deere is locking farmers out of repairing their farm equipment????

 

[pjtoledo]

So, you haven't heard about how John Deere is locking farmers out of repairing their farm equipment????

that's why I'm stirring the pot.
there was a very recent court ruling on that.