https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/03/oregon-governor-signs-nations-first-right-to-repair-bill-that-bans-part-pairing/?comments=1&comments-page=1
Starting in 2025, devices can't block repair parts with software pairing checks.
VW does parts pairing. It resulted in me having to get a new vehicle when my steering wheel controls and air ag stopped functioning. Turns out you have to program the clockspring with the old clockspring and bringing it to VW resulted in a 350$ charge for them to say "we can't fix this".
Fuck VW.
Dealerships are literally the worst place to take a vehicle for a repair. They are in the car selling business, not the car fixing business.
I brought it there after bringing it to my preferred auto shop. Guy did everything in the book with me there and told "yeah sorry man, you're gonna have to bring it to VW" after we watched the programmer failed multiple times.
This isn't necessarily the case anymore. They realized they could charge more money after all this parts pairing and proprietary stuff started.
Dealerships can make more money from repairs than selling. Especially if sales margin is lower due to online competitors selling cars cheaper.
This bill attacks one of the things preventing cheaper repairs and shops from helping .
I asked about a quote to fix my older car (not VW), and they said it would take 30 days in the shop... To be fair, the part in question has the odometer data, but surely they can just pull the part, transfer the data, re-install, and they're done. Should take less than a week...
They typically send those off to a third party. You can usually find those services on eBay. You pull your old cluster and they transfer the data. There's other ways to do it too, but that's the typical way of doing it. Personally, I have a used cluster in my car with the incorrect mileage. My state doesn't record mileage when you transfer the title, so I just need to disclose to whoever I sell it to that the mileage is not correct.
Yeah, apparently that's the case here too, and I'll be going that route. I just thought it was ridiculous that I'd have to leave the there for a month and probably pay like $1k. Surely they have the equipment to do the transfer, no?
No, they don't usually want to mess with odometers because of the liability. I think most manufacturers require that the cluster is sent to them in order to verify the correct mileage and then program a new one. There's aftermarket tools for doing it on some models, others you can just dump an eprom with a cheap programmer, it just depends really.
That's ridiculous. Here's a decent way to do it:
Boom, under a week turnaround without any backdoors in the odometer.