🚜 Why is this news not being reported here but only in UK : US Farmers win right to repair John Deere equipment
(www.bbc.com)
🗣️ DISCUSSION 💬
You're viewing a single comment thread. View all comments, or full comment thread.
Comments (35)
sorted by:
This is a very big deal. My neighbor and I run a dual farm beef co op. We use three JD tractors. We recently had the back hoe stop running. It took us a month, and 400 dollars worth of diagnostic tools to replace and reset all the potentiometers and get them in spec. It still wouldn't run. We finally gave up, and hauled it 75 miles to the nearest JD dealer. It took them ten minutes to hook it up to their computer, and reset the system to get it running. That is where they have been screwing farmers over big time. We actually correctly repaired the machine, but it would never run until they said the magic word, at a tune of $500. A very big deal indeed.
That kind of crap has to stop. If they have a magic box that "fixes" the tractor they should be forced to at least sell that to the customer. It proves they build in these "breaks" for revenue streams. It's like OBDII scanners for cars...
It's a no-win situation. Farmers want their diesel tractors to maximize fuel consumption, without regard to temperature, humidity, altitude, engine rpm or work load. This is going to require sensors and computers.
There SHOULD BE an OBDII type scanner, that tractors would use, that's standardized across brands, makes and models - so driving to a dealership with this tool isn't required.
But, given the population of tractors (compared to cars/trucks) - I honestly don't see this happening. Hell, I think most farmers would be happy with a RESET button that sets the tractor back to factory settings, and makes the computer re-optimize the system from scratch.
Plus you had to haul it so far,that's not cheep.
That was a huge expense for the farmers. God bless the farmers who make food.
So what does the new paradigm mean now? They have to provide diagnostic tools for free and let you have some control over software?
No, it means that companies can no longer be gatekeepers regarding fixing equipment someone owns. I unfortunately doubt it will later extend to computer software/operating systems.