Scrolling through Facebook at night and came across an article someone had shared about how manufacturers are apparently pushing the government to make working on your own car, at your home illegal. I don't know how much truth is in the article but it certainly got me thinking. 

 

To be honest if it is just a ban on working on modern cars then I don't think it would really bother many people. For example I've heard a modern BMW requires the use of diagnostics equipment to rewind the rear calipers. So is it really worth paying hundreds of pounds just so you can do your own brake pads every 3 years or so?  

 

Also I don't know if anyone else has noticed but over the past 10 years the prices of parts and tools have rocketed. I do often wonder that maybe for someone with no tools it is just as cheap for them to get a garage to fix their car rather than buying the parts and tools to do it themselves. 

 

However if something like this does come about and it turns out to be a blanket ban on working on any car at home then what can we do? Just accept that we have hundreds or thousands or pounds worth of tools in the garage we can no longer use? Can we still do simple things like take a battery off to stick it on charge or swap a set of wheels? Can it actually be policed, surely what I do behind my garage door is up to me? 

What like working on your home electrics or gas or fitting a wood burning stove, where you need certification and training and inspection so you don't blow your house to pieces, endanger family, friends andneighbours? But with a computer involved so only compliant approved parts can be used like ink cartridges? A 2002 Skoda needed garage Obd port involvement to replace/valve cycle/reset  an Abs controller when a caliper piston would not rewind, so it's not new.

 

Wonder what the first driverless car performance mods will be? (vehicle to vehicle emergency service junction progress = on).

For electric cars you can get all the BMW open source software used but none of the proprietary motion control.

 

I don't think price of tools has increased much compared to cost of an hour's labour at a garage (so it pays off second or third time you do the job if you have the time), and there feels to be wider choice of items, like being able to get a single socket off eBay or amazon next day rather than a whole socket-set after a week for stock delivery at a Halfords or motor factors that only do imperial. But the quality of tools is not what it was. A silverline compression tester showed stupid low readings because the gauge is shite, but came in a nice box, while a Draper item (£1 more) came in a blister pack with fewer adaptors but was spot on. Unless you pay the premium for quality, screwdrivers have hard plastic handles more suited for robots not wooden or shaped, textured for human hands. 

I can understand why maybe the police would want to do this because some people can't be trusted working on their cars, some cars are just stupidly dangerous with the bodges and modifications they have had.

Even I have cocked up a couple jobs. Such as forgetting to tighten my ARB up. Steering went unpredictable and it pulled left and right. And you know about my nearside inner CV already. Easily done during an engine conversion or even a big job that something gets done slightly wrong or just something isn't torqued properly. I would consider myself pedantic and quite experienced compared to most of the muppets you have modifying polos too

Even if it became a law though. They would have to come up with a genius way to distinguish who is working on their own car. I can't see big motor factors wanting to miss out on the amount of business they get from hobby mechanics either

Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk

As a trained Technician I think that article is a load of crap to be fairly honest, don't worry about it and if it does happen, what happens behind closed doors is nobody's business except yours

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

how would anyone police this , all made up b.s , car makers already try and make it hard to fix your own car but its not illegal and i dont see anyone being able to stop you 

Yeah it isn't illegal just now but what is to stop them passing a law making it illegal?

 

I agree with John that some people shouldn't be allowed near their own car, my van is a prime example of that. Some of the bodges/fixes on that where just stupid and dangerous. But everyone makes a mistake and garages aren't perfect either. I've spotted things MOT testers have missed and everyone knows those fast fit tyre places only do up wheel bolts with an air gun which puts them way over the recommended torque. 

how would they stop you though...back garden or garage do what you like , side of the road with bonnet up yeah checking oil mate , wheel off yeah its a flat tyre  

Yeah it isn't illegal just now but what is to stop them passing a law making it illegal?

 

I agree with John that some people shouldn't be allowed near their own car, my van is a prime example of that. Some of the bodges/fixes on that where just stupid and dangerous. But everyone makes a mistake and garages aren't perfect either. I've spotted things MOT testers have missed and everyone knows those fast fit tyre places only do up wheel bolts with an air gun which puts them way over the recommended torque. 

Or way under the specified torque

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk