Do your own car repairs? Feds weigh change that could make that a copyright violation | AL.com




A gang of auto manufacturers are trying to stop YOU from working on your car. They want to stop your local mechanic from working on your car too.


Dealer only is the goal and they are going through the copyright back door to stop us from doing our own work. Check it out.

 

Their proposal is equivalent to Microsoft demanding that while you could possess
Excel on a preloaded computer, you should be prohibited by the DMCA to input
any data into the spreadsheet cells.

 

Actually, after spending two days in just disassembly for my series of fluid leaks I think they may be doing us all a big favor. These are terrible cars to work on.

I hope the newer models are better but given the complexity and amount of equipment they stuff under the hood these days I suspect all cars are like this to some degree. These jags have crappy hoses though.

 

Good luck enforcing this if it passes. So many laws the nanny state is imploding on itself.

 

Let them try and enforce it.

 

Possibly this is really aimed at the independant shops so that "their" customers are forced back to the dealer?

 

Idiots reporters don't know what they are talking about. Car manufacturers don't want people to reprogram car computers. That is it! It has nothing to do with repairs. Some people reprogram PCM to get extra power, at least what they think.

 

I agree, there is no easy fix on just about any problem with these, and that starts with just getting to the area in question.

 

Ya, and after paying the dealer $450 to diagnose my failed radio amplifier I can attest to that. They had to deconstruct the dash to test the in-dash components one by one, and then run network analyzers on the MOST network to identify the fiber optic failure of the amplifier in the trunk.

There is no way that an owner or most all independent shops could probably have done that.

Now I could get a replacement amp (for ~$3000 from Jaguar or ~$1300 from SNG Barratt) and do the replacement myself. But the dealer warned me about the aged fiber optic network connectors and their likelyhood of breaking so I don't feel too comfortable about doing that. I could also take it to a independent shop.

But in for a penny in for a pound, I'll take it back to the same dealer. It shouldn't be a big expense since the amp is readily accessible in the trunk and all the dealer has to do is unplug, remove, replace, replug the one that they are getting from SNG Barratt. Let them run the risk of breaking the fiber connectors, at least they will have replacements readily available.
================================================== =
You dreamed of a big star
he played a mean guitar
He loved to drive his Jaguar...

So welcome to the machine

 

There is no MOST network on any S-Type.

 

>There is no MOST network on any S-Type.

Ok, thanks, then I got that part wrong. But apparently the radio/NAV/CD operate on a completely separate network from the engine/transmission/AWD control network.
==================================================
Jaguar: Grace, Pace, and Space - Sir William Lyons
'08 Jaguar S-Type 4.2 "Satin Edition"

 

Oh, here is the description and estimate from the dealer:

Service Name Price
[Primary]: N/A - CUST STATES CAR HAS NO AUDIO BOTH NAVIGATION and RADIO 0.00
[Other]: Audio amplifier module asembly is faulty, causing MOST network to crash. Needs a new amp.
3116.33
[Primary]: N/A - WHEN PUSHING PHONE BUTTON IT NOW SAYS PHONE NOT FITTED
0.00
Subtotal 3116.33
Tax 156.25
Total 3272.58

 

They are unfortunately (and perhaps surprisingly?) wrong, as there is no MOST. You can see all the things that do exist in JTIS etc. (Have a look!)

Would I trust a dealer that couldn't get such a basic thing right? No.