There’s a fight happening behind the scenes of the automotive world… and it has nothing to do with horsepower, Nurburgring records, or the latest EV-range bragging rights. No, this one is way simpler & way more infuriating. The topic is: Whether or not you’re allowed to repair your own car. The fact that this is even a debate in 2025 is ridiculous. Yet here we are… where buying a car doesn’t mean you own it. Rather, it means you’ve entered an unspoken custody agreement with the manufacturer. Let me explain what should need no explanation…
When you buy a vehicle, that vehicle should belong to you…
Period. Not with asterisks or fine print. But automakers have decided that “ownership” needs quotation marks. Cars today are wrapped in encrypted ECUs & proprietary diagnostics. AKA: Digital handcuffs that force you into dealer-service Stockholm syndrome. Independent shops get locked out, as do DIYers. It’s a virtual death-sentence for modification & customization. And you submit yourself solely to the dealer, their pricing, their parts, and their timeframe. You see where this is going?
This is exactly why Right to Repair exists, and why we need it…
Right to Repair restores what should have never been taken away. It’s your right to diagnose, fix, customize, tune, resurrect, restore, ruin, rebuild, and/or otherwise enjoy the vehicle you purchased. The Right to Repair is the last line of defense between an enthusiast-driven automotive culture, and a dealership-monopoly dystopia… one where your car tattles on you for touching it.
Mike Spagnola – SEMA
SEMA sees this clearly…
Which is why they’re in Washington fighting. In 2023, when Massachusetts voted overwhelmingly for Right to Repair, SEMA pushed hard to keep automakers from undermining that decision. And when automakers tried to stall compliance by claiming “telematics safety concerns”, SEMA’s President Mike Spagnola said it best:
“Consumers deserve access to their vehicle’s data and diagnostics. If you bought the vehicle, you should be able to decide who works on it – full stop.”
That’s the kind of clarity we need. With zero tolerance for anything otherwise. Because translated, for your safety means for their control.
General Motors CEO, Mary Barra.
While SEMA, repair coalitions, and independent shops are fighting for your right to repair…
Companies like GM are fighting against it. Under Mary Barra, GM wants lawmakers (and you) to believe that access your own diagnostic data will bring hacking, chaos, and vehicular anarchy. Make no mistake: This isn’t about your safety… it’s about their profit & control after the sale. And for the American public, it’s about choosing freedom & independence… versus submission & vulnerability. GM’s real fear isn’t hacking – it’s losing their monopoly on repairs. They don’t want independent shops & DIYers touching a thing. Not when every check-engine light can become a mandatory dealership pilgrimage. One where a $4 fuse somehow becomes a $400 “electrical system assessment.” If you don’t see it by now, let me pull back the curtains: All the modern tech in new vehicles has a dark side. And that dark side is control.
Ol’ Jim Farley… related to Chris Farley. Can’t you see it? lol
And the automotive comedy show wouldn’t be complete without Ford CEO, Jim Farley…
Jim Farley is an oxymoron wrapped in a conundrum wearing a Ford Racing jacket. The man is a weekend racer… an enthusiast. Supposedly ‘one of us’. Yet nearly every time he opens his mouth, he leaves us wondering where his spine and/or allegiance is. Jim Farley pushed EVs like Biden had dirt on him… blatantly foreshadowing to push Ford dealers out of the business model. Now he says internal combustion still matters (trying to play back to his fanbase)… but simultaneously says Right to Repair is DANGEROUS because his daughter’s boyfriend bricked the ECU on his F-150?? WTF? With all due respect, that’s not a national threat. And it’s not a basis for the rewriting of national repair laws. Jim Farley stands on both sides of the fence. He might as well be wearing the fence.
It’s lunacy we’re dealing with…
CEOs are using isolated anecdotes to justify the stripping-away of consumer rights… while also pretending to be ‘one of the good guys’. Meanwhile, state-level repair battles keep proving the public isn’t buying this nonsense. Maine voters passed Right to Repair by nearly 80%. Massachusetts reaffirmed it. Colorado passed it (for farm equipment first, because ranchers don’t play around). Minnesota has a multi-category right to repair law. Other states like New York, Michigan, New Jersey, & Oregon are pushing similar proposals. It’s gaining momentum because everyone knows the fundamental truth: If modern carmakers get their way, every malfunction becomes a strangle point. Every repair becomes a subscription service. Every part becomes proprietary. And every independent shop becomes collateral damage.
If we lose the Right to Repair, we don’t get it back…
This isn’t just a fight for DIYers. It’s a fight for the entire automotive ecosystem. And larger than that, Right to Repair is a fight for FREEDOM over technological oppression. And a fight against the trends of corporate overreach going through the 21st century. If we accept this, our children’s generation will be enslaved in it. Some of these carmakers have outright shown their intentions. Ok it’s time we show ours. Do not support a company that intends to trap you. That doesn’t fly in Texas, and it shouldn’t fly anywhere.
