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Comment by johnbrodie | Hacker News Reader

To me, the scariest part of the article is the last image showing the Tesla screen: "Schedule an appointment on your Tesla Mobile App". No ability to take it somewhere else, no ability to diagnose and attempt a fix yourself, you just have to hope that Tesla will fix it quickly for you.

I like Tesla as much as anyone else here, but that last image, imho, takes a bit of ownership/agency away from the owner of the car. I don't trust any company enough to have a $50k+ asset that _only they_ can work on.

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> To me, the scariest part of the article is the last image showing the Tesla screen: "Schedule an appointment on your Tesla Mobile App".

>No ability to take it somewhere else, no ability to diagnose and attempt a fix yourself, you just have to hope that Tesla will fix it quickly for you

Why would a message on a screen prevent you from doing any of those things?

The screen is attached to a computer that is able to prevent the car from turning on. And there's no way to get diagnostic manuals.

>The screen is attached to a computer that is able to prevent the car from turning on

Ok? That computer isn't particularly adversarial. Presumably if you're capable of fixing this car yourself the computers will present you with no difficulty, if you don't know how to fix cars with computers then the Tesla probably isn't for you.

> And there's no way to get diagnostic manuals

Yeah, there is https://service.teslamotors.com/ Or you know, just pay some random guy on a forum $20 for a copy.

> That computer isn't particularly adversarial.

Oh, this won't be DRM-bound like half of what it does? If you're sure and not just guessing, good.

> Yeah, there is https://service.teslamotors.com/

Oh, hey, that works outside of Massachusetts now, as of earlier this year. Wonderful. Next up, can you order parts without this procedure yet?: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19322223

>Oh, this won't be DRM-bound like half of what it does? If you're sure and not just guessing, good.

Not any more so than in similarly priced German cars.

>Next up, can you order parts without this procedure yet?

Sourcing parts via official channels continues to be difficult.

This is why we need strong Right to Repair laws in all 50 states--not just for cars, but for all expensive technology.

right to repair certainly helps, but wtf is this about:

> [...] Tesla isn't allowed to operate company-owned service centers in Michigan.

Car dealerships are a _very_ strong lobby.

No ability to call and make an appointment.

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