Consumers Are Gaining the Right to Repair Are You Ready?

Manufacturers must begin to design for repairability and prepare for a more competitive services aftermarket.

- By Jan Recker and Gerald C. Kane

Vendors of software-infused goods have increasingly used digital control over their products to capture additional post-sales value in recent years, such as when they require subscriptions to keep appliances operable or when they remotely limit owners' ability to fix products when they break.

You fixed your broken smartphone with a non-certified screen? The manufacturer disabled it. You wanted to keep using features of the smart bassinet you bought for your newborn? You had to subscribe to a monthly service plan. Consumers have paid for technology-enhanced goods but do not always enjoy what most consider to be full rights of ownership. And they are becoming increasingly unhappy about it.

Deere & Co.'s use of software in its tractors to boost post-sales revenue has won the regard of business strategists. But in January, its digital control of service and repairs resulted in a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and the attorneys general of two heavily agricultural states, Illinois and Minnesota. The suit alleges that the company has illegally limited the ability of farmers and independent service providers to repair Deere equipment.

Deere & Co.’s case shows that the legal landscape is changing. Consumers and their advocates who are reasserting traditional rights of ownership are behind new legislation ensuring the right to repair one’s own devices. While rules differ across jurisdictions, they typically require companies to permit product owners to make modifications, customizations, or repairs to the products themselves, or via an independent repair shop, without negative consequences. Right-to-repair laws have passed in California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, and Oregon, and bills are currently active in 30 state legislatures. The European Union adopted a new set of right-to-repair rules in 2024.