John Deere holds farmers hostage to their service centres

I can't afford a John Deere tractor but if I could I might be rethinking buying one after reading this post.

Why American Farmers Are Hacking Their Tractors With Ukrainian Firmware

 

I saw something on this a while back and thought it was a bunch of BS on JD's part. Pretty sure some auto makers are trying to do this as well.

 

Are tractors generally leased or purchased?

 

I saw that article and several others. The free market is and will take care of it.

That article is full of misinformation! They put a really bad slant on it.

It's legal to do within certian modifations , I have software for cars and trucks.

Auto makers have been doing this since forever along with mostly any other machine. Can you mod whatever you buy, melt pistons and expect the manufacturer to fix it u see warranty? Lol!

It's silly. No one should be able to FORCE someone into doing something much less be FORCED to provide a service.

 

Auto makers try this for sure. Laws had to be passed to force auto makers to share repair data. Dealers have scripts to try to trick new car owners into thinking they have to bring the car back to the dealer. Some still make the illegal statement that your warranty can be voided if it does not return to the dealer for service.

 

Most around here buy. Grain farmers in the bread basket seem to lease.

 

Mercedes is like that. BMW doesn't want you to do any service on their cars, or bikes, which is why they have several years of free service built in.

 

Interesting. For a long time the dealer codes to repair my $23000 bike were withheld from legitimate repair shops. There was simply no way to access the ECM except by using a dealers only cord to connect a PC to it. Recently a reverse engineered connector has become available so I soon will be getting rid of the piggy-back fuel controller I have been using and get a dyno tune on my ECM itself. The fuel controller was a work around but was also just one more thing that could fail. I figure it will cost me about $700 to get rid of it and get a new dyno tune directly on my ECM. To me, the peace of mind when I am over 1000 miles from home will be worth the money spent.

 

This is the difference as I see it; and it is not just a matter of warranty, is that you can not take the vehicle to any service centre but John Deere or their service tech has to be the one traveling to your farm. I can take my car to a GM service centre or to Joe's auto repair at my discretion; Joe won't have a problem reading codes or installing parts.

 

If you can't make enough money selling tractors, parts and accessories, then go out of business. Someone will come along in no time flat and do what you can't. That's America, or that's the way it used to be before today's new corporate welfare.

My first and last political post.

 

That's the slant they are putting on it.
There is no one except "black market" or as us gear heads put it no after market or available alternative.
No where in the service agreement does it say you can't wrench or tune the vehicle. It does try to protect their propietary data.
Ford is suing a company for making car repairs cheaper

Manufactures have sued aftermarket or alternative software and hardware companies for "hacking" or gaining access to their code.
They lose as long as there is no copyright infringements.

 

Many things cannot be done without plugging into their computer system...which BMW sells (leases?) to the dealers at a very high cost. Even basic accessories cannot be "turned on" initially without it (heated hand grips for one)
I could see JD being much the same way...

 

Purchased.

Right. And their software should be protected from other manufacturers but not from the consumers. If these manufacturers want to keep it locked down they should provide service for free.

Deere is doing a lot of double talk here. Considering where they supposedly stand in regards to isobus.

 

Yup!
But it's not just BMW.
Want to scan anti lock brake system in a gm? You need at least a tech 2. Wich used to cost more than 2 thousand dollars.
Installing a new crankshaft sensor? Same deal.
Volkswagen Auto group has their own, ford Mopar/Fiat Honda Toyota........

Nothing should be free, and never is free.

Someone else pays for it, farmers don't need anymore handouts. This is just another "freebie" they seem to be salivating over.

 

It's not free. You bought the tractor. Just like if they force you to use their lubricant for warranty they have to provide them. I see no difference.

This has nothing to do with a handout.

 

MY BIL sold his JD dozer just because every time it needed service they had to pay a tech from Indy to come in. It was like $1,500 minimum just to have it looked at.

 

Nebraska put a stop to fraudulent tractor horsepower claims in 1919 with their famous and ongoing tractor tests.
Spotlight on the Nebraska Tractor Test Laboratory

Hopefully the state steps up to the plate again.
A right to repair: why Nebraska farmers are taking on John Deere and Apple

 

Age of dozer? Was he "forced" to sign one of these agreements mentioned in the op's article?

 

Did they pre-charge his credit card before they sent the tech out? That's Caterpillar's policy here.

 

Is anybody actually reading these articles?

The right to repair? Go ahead and repair it. No one is stopping you!


This IS demanding a free service.

John Deere should add huge costs to cover this free repair lol. Tack on another 40-50k for a 200k tractor.