John Deere Once Again Under Fire Again For Efforts To Monopolize Repair

A few years ago agricultural equipment giant John Deere found itself on the receiving end of an antitrust lawsuit for its efforts to monopolize tractor repair. The lawsuits noted that the company consistently purchased competing repair centers in order to consolidate the sector and force customers into using the company’s own repair facilities, driving up costs and logistical hurdles dramatically for farmers.

The lawsuits also noted how the company routinely makes repair difficult and costly through the act of software locks, obnoxious DRM, and “parts pairing” — which involves only allowing the installation of company-certified replacement parts — or mandatory collections of company-blessed components.

Last week John Deere found itself under fire once again, this time by Senator Elizabeth Warren, who sent a letter to the company noting that it continues to fail to inform customers in manuals that they don’t have to use expensive John Deere dealership repair options. According to Warren, this could be violating The Clean Air Act:

“This exclusion of language informing customers of their rights not only undercuts farmers’ ability to repair their equipment, but may also be illegal. The Clean Air Act, which governs emissions from all mobile sources of air pollution, including tractors and other farm equipment, directs the Environmental Protection Agency to require manufacturers to provide “any and all information needed to make use of the emission control diagnostics system . . . and such other information including instructions for making emission related diagnosis and repairs.” The law specifies that “no such information may be withheld . . . by the manufacturer to franchised dealers or other persons engaged in the repair, diagnosing, or servicing of motor vehicles or motor vehicle engines.”

This is, of course, probably the least of John Deere’s sins. The company constantly exploits its carefully cultivated repair monopoly to jack up costs for parts and repairs for its captive customer base. As a result there’s no shortage of stories about John Deere tractor owners being forced to haul their tractors thousands of miles — or pay thousands of additional dollars — just to keep them functioning.

The problem is that the company has repeatedly promised to do better, then turned right around and continued engaging in anticompetitive and anti-consumer behavior.

Last year, Deere struck a “memorandum of understanding” with the American Farm Bureau Federation promising that the company will make sure farmers have the right to repair their own farm equipment or go to an independent technician. But the promise wound up being largely performative, and primarily aimed at stopping the group from supporting state or federal right to repair laws.

Last March Oregon became the seventh state to pass “right to repair” legislation making it easier, cheaper, and more convenient to repair technology you own. The bill’s passage came on the heels of legislation passed in Massachusetts (in 2012 and 2020), Colorado (in 2022 and 2023), New York (2023), Minnesota, Maine and California. All told, 30 states are considering such bills in 2024.

While the new laws are promising for right to repair activism, in most instances companies in those states are just ignoring the laws with no repercussions so far.