Heck yeah, we should have access to our own cars' repair data: Voters in US state approve a landmark right-to-repair ballot measure
- Reference: 1604495708
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/11/04/right_to_repair/
- Source link:
Question 1, to which 75 per cent of voters answered "yes", asked whether carmakers should provide vehicle diagnostics data to individuals and independent repair shops.
The “Right to Repair Law” or Vehicle Data Access Requirement Initiative, passed yesterday and forces manufacturers to let owners have access to their own cars' repair data.
The new law will take effect in 2022, and encompass all new vehicles (2022 models and onwards) sold from that year.
Passage of the measure was [2]hailed by iFixit as a "milestone for the Right to Repair movement," and a stepping stone to further legislation that would affect consumer electronics like smartphones and tablets.
"This could, in other words, be the start of another nationwide push toward open car data. It could also lead to broader electronics Right to Repair legislation," it said.
Inevitably, the measure faced stiff opposition from the automotive industry, as well as from TechNet, a technology lobbying group that counts Apple, Microsoft, and Google as members.
In total, $42.9m was spent by both campaigns, with the "no" side [3]committing $25m, according to CBS Boston . This makes it the most expensive ballot proposition in Massachusetts history.
The [4]Coalition for Safe and Secure Data — which was formed in order to oppose the bill — argued that its passage would expose the public to unnecessary security and privacy risks.
Apple seeks damages from recycling firm that didn't damage its devices: 100,000 iThings 'resold' rather than broken up as expected [5]READ MORE
One scare-tactic advert broadcast by the group suggested the bill could allow [6]foreign hackers to remotely crash moving vehicles , while another suggested it could [7]allow driver data to be sold to advertisers .
This comes as research analysts [8]suggest passenger cars on sale in 2025 will ship with a terabyte of storage for "real-time data analysis and store-and-forward-to-cloud workloads".
These arguments reflect similar lines made against the wider electronics repair movement made by industry, which has said that opening supply chains and schematics to individuals and independent repair shops presents a risk to consumers from substandard work, as well as a threat to the intellectual property of these companies. These claims have been strenuously denied by members of the Right to Repair movement.
Beyond its vigorous lobbying efforts, the consumer electronics industry has attempted to stymie independent repair efforts through a variety of technological means, including [9]soldering previously-replaceable components in place , and engineering otherwise-working parts to prevent them from being harvested and used in faulty devices. Apple is among the biggest offenders here, [10]stopping engineers from replacing the camera module on the iPhone 12 unless they have access to proprietary cloud software. ®
Get our [11]Tech Resources
[1] https://elections.ap.org/WCVB/results/2020-11-03/state/MA/race/I/raceid/24900
[2] https://www.ifixit.com/News/46235/massachusetts-just-passed-the-worlds-most-advanced-right-to-repair-law?
[3] https://boston.cbslocal.com/2020/09/27/massachusetts-election-ballot-questions/
[4] https://safeandsecuredata.org/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2020/10/05/apple_geep_canada_lawsuit/
[6] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mHqk8lgswY
[7] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuRObHlNwww
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/04/autonomous_car_storage_requirements/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2013/10/25/macbook_pro_2013_teardowns/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2020/10/30/apple_iphone_12_camera_modules_cannot_be_swapped/
[11] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Cars collect some interesting data...
But you could claim it was only there so that you could adjust the suspension to compensate.
Re: Cars collect some interesting data...
In reality, it uses that measure to guess if someone is seated or if you just landed your bag there, so as to decide if it needs to show the seat belt reminder or not
Re: Cars collect some interesting data...
The BMW software allowed you to see the RPMs of each piston (I kid not). Was fascinating to see differing RPMs :-) And, of course, over fuelling on one piston, which I never worked out
Re: Cars collect some interesting data...
>Was fascinating to see differing RPMs :-)
As long as they average out in the long run - otherwise you have to manually untwist the crankshaft
Re: Cars collect some interesting data...
and the camshafts?
This implies multiple semsors, I can't think why they would ever need to go beyond a single crankshaft TDC marker for counting RPM, (informing the ECU for ignition timing is the primary reason).
Re: Cars collect some interesting data...
That's a calculated value and uses other data to figure that out. It can also use electrical consumption data at startup to calculate compression in each cylinder.... You can do the same manually with an oscilloscope.
Re: Cars collect some interesting data...
That's only the data you can easily see - if you have access to the Toyota scantool, you can also see acceleration, speed, g-force and all kinds of sensor data. Some cars even store GPS coordinates of each action, but even whithout that, there is a wealth of other data like altitude, wheel orientation, etc.
Weight of the passenger is what turns the passenger airbag on & off....
Edit: depending on the year, your Corolla might also have a black box that records data just before an accident - it is only accessible by Toyota but it's come up in a number of lawsuits.
wrong focus
Seems to me The Register is ignoring a far bigger and much more important vote that took place yesterday in the US and that still hasn't had a definitive outcome.
The one in Colorado:
https://www.denverpost.com/2020/11/03/colorado-proposition-114-election-results-gray-wolves/
Re: wrong focus
Even that is politicised.
They are proposing importing timber wolves from Canada - but if they called them "Canadian Wolves" people would vote no (damn immigrant predators coming over here ....) so they are calling them "gray wolves"
Re: wrong focus
I take your point about importing Canadian wolves, the importing of Mexican wolves (almost identical animal) into Arizona & New Mexico 20 years ago would generate some interesting headlines these days.
Calling them grey or timber is just local variation, they (as a species) were padding about the continent long before anyone decided to draw a map with a line across the middle.
Re: wrong focus
Gray and timber wolves are quite a bit different. Timbers are generally bigger and more aggressive than grays. They also have more color variation (minor point).
It is kind of a moot vote though. The Clinton administration got timber wolves introduced into Yellowstone park in the mid-90s (earlier than official documents show, btw) and those wolves have spread widely.
There were native wolves in Montana at that time (as well as northern Idaho and North Dakota and maybe more states but I can't testify to those). I scoped several while hunting the northern portions of Montana, Idaho and ND over the years between 85 and 95 before official introduction.
There was a case in Idaho where a hunter killed what he thought was a big coyote (which was legal). He turned it into Idaho Fish and Game where he was promptly given a ticket, fined and had his rifle and truck confiscated for killing a wolf. Eventually the courts declared that it couldn't be a wolf because legally the wolf was extinct in the US. This was right at the time the timber wolves were introduced into YNP. The wolf team denied it was one of theirs (because they insisted they knew where every one was and it would look dodgy if they acknowledged it was theirs). So either there were already wolves in the area, or the Fed wolf team was lying. Or both.
How about cars manufactured before 2022?
Yeah, I though so. All current owners are SOL.
This isn't just a civilian issue
In the US, even combat vehicles have click-wrap-style [1]restrictions on what military mechanics in a war zone are allowed to fix .
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/20/opinion/military-right-to-repair.html
Re: This isn't just a civilian issue
Yet another case of beancounters stuffing things up to extract 'value' from a support contract.
from the NYT article >>>views expressed were made in her personal capacity and do not necessarily reflect those of the Marine Corps<<<
I'll put money on anyone wearing a tin kevlar hat being in full agreement, the military have to practise in realistic conditions. (ideally with everything bar incoming ordnance)
Calling it the "Vehicle Data Access Requirement Initiative" is language designed to narrow the scope and keep consumer electronics out of it. Watch for weasel wording such as this and call out anyone who tries to use it.
I'd guess it's aimed at what the voters might understand and support whilst at the same time being the thin end of the case opener.
"Coalition for Safe and Secure Data"
Sir Humphrey would have approved.
Cars collect some interesting data...
A while back I hooked up my Toyota Corolla to my laptop and accessed the on-board data. Quite interesting and revealing.
For instance, it reports the actual tire/tyre pressure for each individual tire. However, the dashboard indicator is just a simple light that will merely show a general "one of your tires is below the threshold". No details even on which tire/tyre. It would be trivial and inexpensive to show those details. But for that I'd have to upgrade to a much more expensive model, of course.
The most intriguing metric, however, is the weight of the front passenger. So far I have resisted the temptation to install an LCD in the dashboard to display that value... ;-)