[Politics] Tesla Right To Repair: Hard To Fix On Purpose?

[Mr.Hacker]

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According to Reuters, Tesla faces two antitrust class action lawsuits alleging the company purposefully discourages owners from using third-party mechanics. Additionally, each suit’s class could include hundreds of thousands of Tesla drivers, potentially resulting in nine-figure damages. So, here’s everything you need to know about the pair of Tesla “right to repair” class action lawsuits.

Drivers experience exorbitant prices and extreme wait times for repairs.
“Tesla needs to open up its ecosystem and allow competition,” said lawyer Matthew Ruan, who filed one of the suits. “For the servicing of Tesla [vehicles] and sales of parts.”

The lawsuits accuse Tesla of designing their vehicles and warranty and repair policies to dissuade drivers from using third-party shops. In addition, the suits allege the EV maker forces owners to pay excessive prices and wait unreasonably long for repairs. In both cases, the classes would include drivers who have paid the company for repairs since March 2019.

The “right to repair” has recently become an increasingly common issue for consumers.
In May 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released a 50-plus page report detailing anticompetitive repair practices to Congress. The FTC submitted “Nixing the Fix” to create a regulatory framework to combat these practices. A few months later, the FTC rescinded a 1995 policy that made it challenging to prevent restrictive repair policies.

Additionally, the right to repair includes far more than just vehicles. For example, in 2021, the FTC questioned McDonald’s franchisees about their notoriously perpetually broken McFlurry machines. Only a certified technician from Taylor, the company that manufactures the ice cream machines, could repair them when they broke. 

Although, a company called Kytch created a device to bypass Taylor’s internal systems that prevent a third-party repair job. Franchise owners could install these devices on their McFlurry machines to fix them themselves. However, Mcdonald’s quickly told franchisees these devices were a “very serious safety risk,” which led to Kytch suing Mcdonald’s.

And in January 2023, New York became the first state to pass sweeping protections to protect businesses’ right to repair. The Digital Fair Repair Act goes into effect on July 1, 2023. The bill allows third-party repair providers to access manuals and parts from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to fix their products