John Deere owners will get the right to repair their own equipment under a new FTC settlement

It looks like John Deere owners can soon feel free to fix their own machines.

The Federal Trade Commission and attorneys general from several states secured a right-to-repair settlement Wednesday with agriculture equipment giant Deere & Co., commonly known as John Deere, that requires the company to let farmers and independent shops fix their own equipment.

The Illinois-based manufacturer has faced complaints for years for withholding the software needed for repairs and forcing customers to use authorized dealers instead of independent ones.

This marks the second right-to-repair settlement Deere has reached this year, following a separate $99 million class-action settlement with farmers in April. Though the class-action compensated consumers, the FTC’s settlement instead requires Deere to make its repair services available to equipment owners and independent shops.

Under the order filed in Illinois, Deere will now be required to make diagnostic and repair tools available to equipment owners and independent repair shops, not only its own network of authorized dealers. It also prevents Deere dealers from retaliating against equipment owners or repair shops who choose to fix their own equipment instead of paying for Deere’s services.

Deere must pay $1 million collectively to the five states for antitrust enforcement costs and will be subject to strict compliance oversight for the next 10 years.

Read much more in the AP article here.

Also see previous posts:

John Deere to Pay $99 million in monumental Right-to-Repair settlement

John Deere & Co. will allow farmers to repair their own equipment

John Deere Trucks and the Right to Repair