If You Can't Fix Your Car, Do You Really Own It?

Issue #208

​If you can’t fix your car, is it truly yours? Today, we discuss the latest happenings in the “Right To Repair” act and the conflict occurring between owners and automakers.

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Market News

• Waymo vehicles are so efficient that an IIHS study reveals crashes have decreased by this amazing amount.

• In a surprising event, Honda pauses all manual transmissions for the Civic Si and Integra A-Spec. Here’s why.

• Banning Chinese tech could make cars even more expensive, as this article explains.

• The current Dodge Durango is old. Really old. Yet, it had its best half-year in sales, and here’s why.

• Honda confirms this model will get a new generation, and people are excited.

Safety and Recalls

• Ford recalls more than half a million Broncos. The reason? They can catch fire.

• Jeep recalls Wranglers and Gladiators because their wheels were too weak, leading to cracking and separating.

Car Culture

• These are the 50 greatest Italian cars of all time. But #2 should have been #1!

• When money is crucial, Quartz gives us the ten best cars for the money for 2026.

• Could Dodge’s new muscle car be a Mustang GT3-killer after all? Check it out here. 

• Japan is seeing more bear encounters, so this Toyota racing partner made an anti-bear helmet.

• Honda might bring back the CrossTour. Kind of. Here’s what we mean.

Video Of The Week

If you hear Impala, you either think of classic muscle cars or a boring midsize rental. This video covers the car’s fascinating evolution.

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In The Know

What Has Happened With “Right To Repair”?

If you can’t fix your car, are you really the owner (or the mechanic, as this article explains)? It’s a tough question, and its answer is so complex that it has involved the White House.

When 2026 rolled around, the automotive industry was trying to wrangle the consequences of tariffs imposed by the White House, drawing the focus of many in the automotive media.

But there was another conflict, much more subtle, that has been brewing for more than a decade, and it’s about to explode.

This problem will outlast any future tariff issue, and it all boils down to car repairs. American vehicle owners want to fix their cars. Automakers don’t want this to happen. Of course, there are more layers to this, but that’s the summary. We covered the conflict in more detail here.

Vehicle repair is becoming more complex because vehicles are becoming much more complex with every passing day. It’s that simple. New vehicles are basically rolling computers, packed with telemetry, safety features, and driver aids. This combination makes them a potential nightmare down the road (pun intended), as this article explains.

In short, if you’ve ever broken the screen on your phone and found that all techs tell you to “buy a new one because it’s cheaper,” that’s basically what some people fear will happen to cars.

However, there’s another question: is technology the only reason why automakers don’t want you to fix your own car?

The answer is an unclear “no.”

In short, there are two sides. One side includes customers, potential buyers, and independent mechanics. They want to be able to fix vehicles without having to always turn to the automaker or dealer.

On the other side, automakers, OEMs, dealerships, and insurance companies say that, with vehicles being so complex, it has become increasingly dangerous. This article does an excellent job summarizing the conflict.

Let’s dive into the technological aspect of the dilemma. Vehicles now have telemetry in almost every aspect of driving. They can sense when you drive above the speed limit, when a vehicle in front is stopping, and where you’re headed. This is sensible and complex data.

So, to prevent any possible risk to people’s lives, automakers create proprietary restrictions to prevent ordinary people from accessing such complex technology without knowing how to handle it. This is Jim Farley’s strongest argument, which you can read here.

But then there’s the aspect of vehicle safety. With so much data, a new car is a hacker’s dream. So, automakers claim that they make the vehicles safer by making them hard to access. It’s a solid argument, I’m not going to lie, but it’s pushing it a bit far, especially if vehicle owners need to fix a small thing.

In fact, “a small thing” is what makes this scenario all the more frustrating for owners. Independent mechanics are being left in the dust because they can’t afford specific tools for every brand, and even specific models, as this article highlights.  

What’s worse is that it’s not as though automakers are secretive about it. They openly don’t want you working on your car. As this article recalls, this is an argument that’s been going on since 2014, and President Trump highlighted that the White House would fix the problem, but there’s no clear path of action yet.

Plus, let’s not kid ourselves. Ford and others are using the “safety and security” argument consistently, but that’s not the only reason. Dealership visits are expensive, and people are avoiding them. As Cox Automotive highlights, dealerships have lost 12% of those juicy visits since 2018.

So, the answer to the battle to repair your vehicle is still unclear, and that’s good. It means there’s still a chance for the regular car owner to fully own the vehicle and work on it during the weekends.

Which brings me to a simple thought: if the reason why automakers don’t want to share secrets is that vehicles are too complex, why not make them simpler?