[miah_]

Its not just software though, even the lights on your cars now are not easily user serviceable anymore. New cars with LED lights built in have core charges/deposits attached to them, they cost multiple hundreds of dollars and if you want to get your core deposit refund you must return the light. Compared to 15+ years ago, you go to your local store, buy a new light for $10-30, replace it and you're on your way.

Ford apparently ended the core charge program for lighting in 2020, but other manufactures continue, and that is just one thing that was common for users to service themselves in the past. It's not going to get better.

[pas]

On one hand, it's okay. Cars are becoming a service, which they are anyway. Most people want to get transported, they don't want to drive, nor they want to maintain a car. Collective interests are pushing the whole industry toward this. (The goal of decreasing emissions through the whole lifecycle/value-chain, more safety for everyone involved, not just for those in cars; EV-ification itself pushes everything toward consolidation, as cars become simpler, but more one-time CapEx intensive, as the battery costs a lot, and then it just works for a million miles. AAaand then the whole need/goal of densification of cities, more public transportation, etc.)

On the other hand right to repair is very important. Walled gardens suck. Still hundreds of millions of people live in rural areas in the so called developed world, etc. And I don't want to subsidize the industry, I'm willing to pay more up-front, if it means I can just to replace the fucking light bulb.