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In 2020, 75% of Massachusetts voters voted in favor of an automotive right-to-repair ballot initiative, which would
force auto manufacturers to share access to diagnostic information with car owners and independent mechanics, so any mechanic could fix your car. You wouldn't be locked into taking it to the manufacturer.
The people of Massachusetts were pretty adamant: They wanted to choose their own mechanics. They had voted even more forcefully for a very similar right-to-repair initiative in 2012.
The problem is that right to repair only came into effect in
August. The carmakers had so much ready cash (much of it accumulated by gouging drivers on maintenance) that
they were able to pay an army of lawyers to challenge the law in court. In the decade since Massachusetts voters affirmed their overwhelming support for automotive right to repair, the actual state of it in Massachusetts went into freefall, with an ever-growing proportion of the cars on the road becoming inaccessible to independent mechanics. And it's still on shaky ground, not fully enforced, and
carmakers are deactivating some of the features in cars so they don't have to share the specifics of how to repair them.
The mechanics were the first casualties of this attack. Drivers who brought their cars in for repairs would have to be turned away because the local independent mechanic just couldn't diagnose their problems. Independent mechanics closed down shops and exited the trade — or went to work for dealerships, who had a buyer's market for their labor and could name their prices and terms.
Drivers were the second casualty: There was no official list of all the cars that independent mechanics could fix. If you crossed your fingers and went to the local mechanic you'd used for years, there was a chance they could fix your car but a growing probability that they'd get it up on the lift and tell you they couldn't even attempt the repair, and off to the dealership you would have to go.
Creditors and investors were the third casualties: Mechanics struggled to service their bank loans or pay back the investors who'd taken a chance on their business.
Mechanics learned not to try to buck the system. Drivers learned not to try to go around the dealership's monopoly. The banks and investors learned never to bet against Big Car.
Comment: Whilst there are indeed random attacks by unstable people, from both sides, it seems the greater threat emanates from the establishment and its demonstrable involvement in the worst of these attacks: 1 tourist dead after Paris knife attack, assailant was known by authorities for terrorist plans & radical Islam views
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