r/righttorepair

I’m researching how people deal with broken phones, laptops, appliances, and other devices, particularly what makes someone attempt a repair, seek professional help, give up, or replace the item.
I’m interested in responses from anyone who has dealt with a broken device, including DIY repairers, technicians, Repair Café/Restart volunteers, and repair-shop owners.
The survey takes about 2–3 minutes and is mostly multiple choice.

Complete the survey

Responses will be used for research purposes, and if I receive enough responses, I’ll share a summary of the findings with the community.

I work with heavy diesel engines and industrial equipment for a living, and I need to say something that shocks most people in my industry: I’m anti-Right to Repair.

I know the standard narrative is that manufacturers are just greedy. But in the heavy equipment and diesel world, total open access to proprietary software is a disaster waiting to happen. In my business life, I’ve seen time and time again how people will bypass crucial safety steps like DPF regens or ignore wet stacking just to save a few dollars or a little time.

If you give everyone a loaded laptop to mess with the source code, they aren't going to fix things properly. They’re going to run delete kits. Bypassing emission controls means dumping massive amounts of unburnt carbon and soot into the air, which is a literal nightmare for anyone dealing with asthma, cystic fibrosis, or emphysema.

And what happens when a natural disaster hits? Imagine another Hurricane Harvey. You have emergency generators at hospitals and schools, plus marine rescue boats out in the floods. If those engines are wet stacking (building up unburnt fuel and carbon in the cylinders and injectors because they’re running low loads), they need a real technician to do a proper load bank test. Instead, under a wide-open right to repair system, you get operators using cracked software to force the machine to run anyway. The engine completely dies, the DPF plugs, and now the hospital loses power or the rescue boat is stranded.

We’re talking about massive machines. If you tamper with hydraulic power systems on a boom lift to bypass an engine warning, you risk spraying high-pressure fluid everywhere or trapping a lineman 50 feet in the air while they're trying to restore power grid lines.

Tier 4 architecture was designed so you can’t just hit "clear codes." You have to fix the mechanical issue, put it in program mode, and take it out properly. This stuff requires specialized, trained individuals. It’s not about corporate greed; it’s about public safety and keeping critical machines running when it matters most.

\-