Right-to-Repair Laws Now Cover a Majority of US States, Forcing Electronics Makers to Standardize Parts Access

Right-to-repair legislation has now passed in a majority of US states following several additional state bills enacted through 2026, reaching a critical mass that has shifted manufacturer strategy from state-by-state legal resistance toward standardizing a single national parts-and-documentation access program that satisfies the strictest state requirements everywhere, rather than maintaining different repair policies by state. Apple's Self Service Repair program, expanded significantly since its original 2022 launch, has become something of a template other electronics makers are converging toward: official parts, diagnostic tools, and repair manuals made available directly to consumers and independent repair shops rather than only authorized service centers. The agricultural equipment sector has seen some of the most consequential right-to-repair fights, with John Deere facing continued regulatory and legal pressure over software locks that historically prevented farmers from performing their own equipment repairs or using independent mechanics, forcing a costly trip to an authorized dealer even for straightforward mechanical fixes. Deere's expanded parts and software-access commitments, made under regulatory pressure, are widely cited by right-to-repair advocates as evidence that legislative pressure — not voluntary manufacturer policy change — has been the actual driver of the sector's shift. The manufacturer counter-argument, still actively made by device and equipment makers even as they comply, centers on liability and safety: allowing broader independent repair access, they argue, increases the risk of improperly repaired devices causing safety incidents or data security issues, particularly for devices with batteries or network connectivity, an argument right-to-repair advocates dispute as overstated relative to the anti-competitive benefit manufacturers get from controlling repair access. The practical effect for consumers has been a gradual but real decline in the cost gap between manufacturer-authorized and independent repair for covered device categories, as independent repair shops gain legitimate access to genuine parts and official diagnostic tools rather than relying on aftermarket parts and reverse-engineered repair procedures, though appliance and equipment categories not yet covered by right-to-repair statutes in a given state still lack this protection entirely.