No one has a "right" to other than liberty and the pursuit of happiness

No one has a right to a working car

By Gus in Denver March 3, 2011 - 4:12pm

Customers will have to demand cars that can be repaired. I recommend they do so. If they do not then they will get increasing IP laden cars with mystery functions. Cars seem to be moving away from the paradigm of the "Land Rover you can fix with bailing wire".
I will not buy a new car if it is full of restricted , mystery functions and fog lights that require removing the fender to change.

And ..... please for Zeus sakes..... DO NOT ask the government to get involved.

Best

Who Has a "Right to Repair?"

By Jon Titus | February 10, 2011

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Automobile repair shops have a beef with auto manufacturers over who can repair vehicles. Many repair shops want to replace "programmable" components but the auto companies won't release the details of how to program these devices for fear of opening their intellectual property to all takers. A story in the 10 February 2011 Wall Street Journal explained that after a mechanic replaced a windshield-wiper switch in a 2004 Saab, the car wouldn't start. The switch needed an "initialization" at a Saab dealer.

Politicians have sponsored "Right to Repair" bills that would force auto manufacturers and their suppliers to give independent dealers and part manufacturers the programming instructions, fault codes, and other information that would let them repair vehicles and manufacture replacement parts. Of course, the auto manufacturers spend a lot of money to lobby against such legislation.

If auto vendors want to protect their products, they have the means now. Atmel's CryptoAuthentication devices, for example, provide an inexpensive way to add a serial number and 256-bit secret key to a product. If a system cannot find the serial number or the key, it can take action and alert users or service people to counterfeit components, boards, or subassemblies. The Atmel chips use the NIST SHA-256 standard, basically a hashing algorithm that meets the U.S. Government’s Federal Information Processing Standard. Third-party manufacturers of repair parts could incorporate such security devices in their electronic products and service companies could then authenticate the source and gain access to programming or configuration for the repair part.

I have said for some time that IC manufacturers should reveal the programming information for their devices so engineers, designers, and third-party suppliers could also produce emulator and programmer pods. Perhaps a "Right to Repair" bill would cover that type of information, too. Companies can protect their intellectual property without trying to exert complete control over markets.