Ah Ferrari.  They’ve become so possessive of their ‘brand image’ they’re hassling everyone who does their own thing, for ill or otherwise with their cars.  It’s to the point I want to find a salvage F430 or something, swap in a Ford 5.0L coyote crate motor, paint it in Ford Racing livery and custom badging that says…

My *immediate* mental response after reading that sentence:

This is a bit different. FCA isn’t going to sue you for modifying the software on your truck. If an aftermarket vendor makes a software fix, you’re free to use it. You’ll probably void your warranty, but you’re not going to get sued by FCA for doing it. Deere wants to sue you if you modify it. Imagine if FCA started…

The handouts are ok if they get them. 

Its 99% a pride thing. Farmers are very proud of what they do, and for good reason. providing food to the nation is a very worthwhile endeavor. The problem comes along when politicians or corporations leverage that pride and begin convincing the farmers that they have their best interests, and anything bad that…

Fuck yeah.

Yup, because downtime in the field is lost profits, the only thing our government apparently cares about at the moment 

This is where regulations are a good thing, for all the Libertarians out there, because OBD regulations actually require that manufacturers allow for diagnostic information to be commercially available for independent repair shops and consumers.

The downtime in the field is actually the more major problem with this issue, and I think might be what breaks the issue in court for the manufacturers. Now instead of fixing something yourself, you have to wait for a company tech to come out to the field or even worse, take it in. 

That’s not really the case with companies like Deere. They specifically implemented DRM protections that stop users, or 3rd party repair centers, from doing nearly any repair or modification unless they have a software license like a authorized dealer.

WE AREN’T SOCIALIST!  THESE ARE SUBSIDIES! THAT’S DIFFERENT!

psst - no there aren’t. For example, there are sensors that tell the tractor how far above the ground a spray bar is. If that sensor fails, then replacing it requires the factory software to “reauthorize” the spray bar.

Not a software CHANGE, but lots of cars (right now Im thinking about my 2017 RAM 1500) have modules that need to “talk” to the body control module. They become “married” to said BCM. When replacing certain of these modules, the replacement needs to become “married” to the BCM.....its not technically a software change,…

Most of stuff that’s linked to the software is tied to emissions regulations.

They’re like our lot here in the UK, 58% voted to leave the EU. Guess where all their lovely subsidy loot they love so much comes from?

If this was only Deere vs Farmers, I would be right there with you.

Psst, anything that touches the power train or emissions system on farm equipment is controlled by the ECU. And many places, including Jalopnik and Gizmodo, have reported on the issue of needing to access the ECU for even the simplest repairs - so farmers can’t do them.

“Hot-rodding is a national birthright!”

Because the Man Baby in Chief thinks everything is about HIM.

Sometimes project delay is your friend.