Find out how “Right to Repair” Laws, implemented on several states, can impact your repair costs!
State Lawmakers and consumer advocates have been working to make it easier and more affordable for consumers to repair their devices. States like California, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and New York have passed “right to repair” laws. And, according to Repair.org, over a dozen other states have introduced bills.
These laws generally require manufacturers of certain devices, such as electronics and appliances, to provide parts, repair tools (both physical and software-based), and technical information (like schematics) at fair and reasonable prices. This can allow consumers to make repairs on their own and increase the availability of professional repair services.
“We are just now starting to see the impact of legislation that we’ve been working on for 10 years”, said Gordon-Byrne, executive director of Repair.org. She mentioned that the first right to repair bills were introduced in 2014, however it wasn’t until July 2024 that the first three laws began to take effect.
There are also some limitations to these laws. They usually only apply to newer products and are often specific to certain devices. For example, New York’s law doesn’t cover appliances. Some states have separate laws for specific items, such as cars and farm equipment.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) noted in a 2021 report to Congress that “restricting consumers and businesses from choosing how they repair products can substantially increase the total cost of repairs, generate harmful electronic waste, and unnecessarily increase wait times for repairs“. The FTC has also taken action against manufacturers over warranty practices and sent warning letters to some regarding their warranty rules.
Some Products Are Purposely Made Hard To Repair
While state laws and the FTC’s actions help, they don’t fully solve the issue, according to consumer advocates. U.S. PIRG is working to introduce repair-score labeling in the U.S to help consumers. Currently, “there’s no way to tell what products are designed to be serviceable, and therefore last, and be resilient and durable”, according to Nathan Proctor, the senior director of U.S. PIRG’s Right to Repair campaign.
“One of the main reasons why it’s so difficult to fix things is because they’re designed with kind of a hostility to repair, or an ambivalence to repair”, Proctor added.
In places where a similar system works, the products are rated on how easy they are to fix and the cost and availability of parts. Products are scored from 0 to 10, with higher numbers indicating easier repairs and longer product lifespans. However, these scores aren’t perfect and can change over time. For instance, if a manufacturer stops making a part, the product’s repairability score could become inaccurate.