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To: Board Members of Ford Motor Company
Demand a Public Apology or Resignation from Ford CEO Jim Farley Over "Right to Repair" Comments
To The Board of Directors of Ford Motor Company and CEO Jim Farley
We, the loyal customers, independent automotive technicians, and consumer rights advocates, demand that Ford Motor Company CEO Jim Farley issue a formal, public apology to the motoring public and independent repair industry, change his views on “Right to Repair”, or immediately resign from his position. His recent comments regarding the Right to Repair are an insult to consumer freedom, a threat to local small businesses, and a deflection from Ford's own systemic quality control failures.
Why This Matters
In a recent interview following discussions regarding the federal REPAIR Act, Jim Farley defended restrictions on the Right to Repair by claiming that allowing independent shops or everyday consumers access to repair modern Ford vehicles would "put people's lives at risk." This fear-mongering narrative implies that only Ford dealerships are capable of safely maintaining vehicles.
This corporate positioning is a direct attempt to monopolize the repair industry, forcing consumers away from trusted, affordable local mechanics and locking them into a predatory dealership network.
We reject this narrative for three critical reasons:
1. Ford's Systemic Quality Failures and Recalls
If Ford is deeply concerned with "putting lives at risk," management should look internally. Ford has consistently led the automotive industry in total safety recalls over consecutive years, forcing millions of owners to constantly bring vehicles back to fix factory defects.
2. The 10-Speed Drivetrain Disaster (10Rxx Transmission)
Hundreds of thousands of Ford owners have suffered through the severe, well-documented defects of the Ford 10-speed automatic transmission (10R80), used across wildly popular platforms like the F-150, Explorer, and Mustang. Owners regularly report violent shifting, hesitation, gear slipping, and premature internal failure.
3. The Financial Burden of the Dealership Monopoly
Forcing consumers to fix these pervasive drivetrain issues exclusively at a Ford dealership is a massive financial burden. Dealership labor rates regularly exceed independent shop rates by 40% to 100%, alongside heavy markups on proprietary parts.
A complete 10-speed transmission replacement at a Ford dealership can easily cost a consumer $7,000 to $10,000.
Independent mechanics can diagnose and rebuild these units at a fraction of the cost—if Ford does not intentionally lock them out using proprietary software barriers and withheld diagnostic tools.
Jim Farley's comments are a transparent attempt to secure recurring post-sale revenue for Ford dealerships at the expense of American families and small businesses. If a company manufactures vehicles with high failure rates, it has a moral and economic obligation to ensure the public can fix those vehicles affordably where they choose.
We call on Jim Farley to retract his statements, pledge Ford’s full support for the bipartisan REPAIR Act, and apologize to independent mechanics nationwide. If he cannot support the consumer's right to choose, he is unfit to lead an American automotive institution and we ask for his resignation.
Why is this important?
At its core, the Right to Repair is a consumer rights movement fighting for a simple principle: if you bought it, you own it, and you should have the freedom to fix it yourself or choose who fixes it for you.
Over the last decade, manufacturers of everything from smartphones and tractors to cars and gaming consoles have deliberately made their products harder to repair. They do this by gluing components shut, using rare security screws, and—most commonly—using proprietary software locks to block anyone who isn't an "authorized" dealer.
The Right to Repair is vital for four major reasons:
1. Breaking Up Monopolies and Lowering Costs
When a manufacturer completely locks down diagnostic software and parts, they create a legal monopoly. If you are forced to go to an authorized dealership or Apple Store for every single fix, the manufacturer can charge whatever they want.
The Dealership Premium: Independent mechanics and electronics repair shops regularly charge 40% to 60% less for labor than corporate dealerships.
The "Just Buy a New One" Tactic: Dealerships and factory repair centers often quote ridiculously high repair prices for minor fixes to manipulate you into throwing away the item and buying a brand-new model instead.
2. Supporting Local Small Businesses
Local repair shops, independent mechanics, and neighborhood tech-fix stores are the backbone of local economies. When manufacturers lock out anyone who doesn't pay a massive corporate licensing fee to become "authorized," they actively force small business owners out of work. Right to repair laws ensure that your local mechanic can access the exact same diagnostic codes and repair data that the massive corporate dealership down the road uses.
3. Reducing Environmental Waste (E-Waste)
We are living in a disposable tech economy. When a manufacturer makes it impossible to swap out a degraded $30 battery or a worn-out $50 gear, the entire $1,000 device or machine gets thrown into a landfill.
Restricting repair leads to millions of tons of e-waste (electronic waste) globally every year.
It also forces the continuous mining of rare earth metals to build unnecessary replacement devices, causing massive carbon emissions.
4. Supply Chain and Emergency Resilience
When things break down in critical industries—like agriculture, medical care, or commercial trucking—waiting weeks for an "authorized" corporate technician to travel out with a proprietary laptop can be catastrophic.
Farmers have famously had their entire harvests put at risk because a John Deere tractor threw a minor sensor code that required a corporate software unlock, even though the farmer was perfectly capable of replacing the physical sensor themselves.
Hospitals faced massive crises during the pandemic when proprietary software restrictions prevented their own in-house biomedical engineers from quickly fixing broken ventilators.