One things this means is that cars are going to become as disposable as cell phones and laptops. As cars get assembled from larger components, damage to one area of the car will have larger effects. This will increase repair costs, more often pushing them over the limit to declare the car a total loss.

I can’t quickly find the numbers, but I know that car repair costs are going up and repair rates are going down, and have been for decades. The reason is obvious: the benefits of a modern car come at a cost. E.g., cars are much safer now, partly thanks to airbags; those are expensive to replace. My car has 11 airbags, and if they all popped off at once that alone would probably total it.

Years ago I was in a collision which bent that frame of my car. That’s usually game-ending, but this car has a modular frame, so they just bolted on a new frame component. Now, Mercedes have always (until lately, perhaps) been known as highly-repairable; it’s one reason they last so long.

So it’s good that the right-to-repair movement is getting traction. We’re going to need to point it at cars soon, and for mechanical reasons.