[cellsafemode]

Probably not new to the more electronically inclined gear heads but still something everyone should be aware of if they aren't.

OEM's are (and have been) trying to control the service industry and to a certain extent, absolutely everything involved with the cars they produce especially in the lucrative second hand used car market. They do everything in their power to force you into their approved service stations and with the increasing digital nature of cars, that means using legislation created to keep people from stealing digital assets (DMCA) to keep people from figuring out how to fix their own vehicles or create aftermarket replacement parts.

Currently we see this fight-back in the Camaro with OEM's picking closed proprietary systems for basic things like car audio, tying all kinds of systems into this proprietary technology (MOST). Tuners have also had to fight for the right to change the ECU and we're starting to see how the OEM's have circumvented that win for tuners in the 2017 TCM (sure, you can re-program but good luck making money when users have to physically mail you the module).

I would urge anyone not familiar with this tactic of hiding repair info behind the DMCA to read the article.

http://ifixit.org/blog/8722/dmca-hurts-jobs/

[glenB]

The OEMs have been given the boot for 2 more years, so as of now it's not 'protected'