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Campaign for the Right to Repair, Associate, U.S. PIRG Education Fund
Senior Director, Campaign for the Right to Repair, U.S. PIRG Education Fund
Everything breaks at some point. When our products fail, we deserve the right to choose what we do with them. The goal of Right to Repair reforms is to ensure that when your product needs repair, you have a choice of where to take it to be fixed — whether that’s back to the manufacturer, or an independent repair shop of your choice, or maybe you opt to fix it yourself.
In order for these options to work, you need some basic support from the manufacturer, such as access to service manuals, spare parts, and sometimes special tools.
In June of 2022, the New York Legislature became the first state to pass a broad Right to Repair measure for electronics. Though it was narrowed by Gov. Kathy Hochul when she signed it in late December, it was still a critical milestone in the nationwide effort to remove barriers to repair.
New York’s Right to Repair rules require manufacturers to provide owners and independent repair shops with the same repair materials they use for their own repair services — including parts, tools and information like service manuals. Now that the law is in effect for products that were released after July 1, 2023, you would expect to be able to find repair materials for covered products. This report investigates whether that is indeed true.
For many devices, it is getting easier to access repair materials. However, our survey of electronics covered by the New York Right to Repair law shows that some companies still provide little to no repair support for their products.
In this report, we identified 21 devices covered by New York’s new law. The devices include laptops and computers, tablets, VR headsets, smart phones, gaming consoles, and digital cameras. We then graded these devices based on the quality and accessibility of repair manuals, spare parts and other critical repair materials.
Nine of these devices earned As or Bs, including all of the smart phones. However, three products received Ds and six earned Fs (TABLE 1).
The legislation requires manufacturers to share only the repair materials they themselves distribute, so a manufacturer with no repair materials — that offers no repair services — does not have to share materials to comply with the law. The law does expose these manufacturers’ products as being unfixable by design, something a consumer should know before spending money on a product.
People need to be able to fix their stuff. Repair saves consumers money and cuts electronic waste. No one would expect a brand new, high-end product to be impossible to repair.
Companies that are still not providing access to repair materials need to start doing so immediately. Consumers should check to see what repair materials are available before buying a product, to avoid buying something unfixable. And finally, the New York Attorney General should ensure that manufacturers which provide no support for their covered products know about the requirements of this new law, and that they could face penalties for noncompliance.
Brand | Product | Manual Score (out of 10) |
Parts Score (out of 10) |
Total Score | Letter Grade |
HP | Spectre Fold | 4 | 2 | 6 | D- |
Apple | M3 Macbook Pro | 10 | 0 | 10 | C |
Asus | Asus Zenbook Duo 2024 | 10 | 10 | 20 | A |
Dell | XPS 16 (2024) | 10 | 0 | 10 | C |
Acer | Acer Swift Go 14 | 8 | 0 | 8 | D+ |
Microsoft | Surface Laptop Studio 2 | 10 | 10 | 20 | A |
Steam | OLED Steam Deck | 10 | 10 | 20 | A |
Sony | PlayStation 5 Slim | 1 | 0 | 1 | F |
Sony | Alpha 6700 | 1 | 8 | 9 | D+ |
Canon | EOS r100 | 0 | 4 | 4 | F |
Nikon | Zf | 1 | 4 | 5 | F |
Fujifilm | GFX 100 ii | 1 | 4 | 5 | F |
Pixel 8 | 10 | 8 | 18 | A- | |
Samsung | Galaxy ZFlip 5 | 10 | 8 | 18 | A- |
Apple | iPhone 15 | 10 | 10 | 20 | A |
Motorola | Razr + (2023) | 10 | 10 | 20 | A |
Meta | Meta Quest 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | F |
Apple | Vision Pro | 0 | 0 | 0 | F |
Amazon | Fire HD 10 | 0 | 10 | 10 | C |
Lenovo | Tab P12 | 10 | 8 | 18 | A- |
Samsung | Galaxy S9 FE | 10 | 2 | 12 | B- |
For each product, we checked the manufacturer’s website for the service manual, and then contacted customer service to request a manual as well. Of the 21 surveyed devices, 15 had repair manuals of any kind that we were able to access. Of those manuals we were able to access, we scored them based on whether they contained some important repair information: the procedure for replacing a part or parts, a list of required tools, exploded diagrams, troubleshooting procedures and a list of parts.
All manufacturers provide materials on initial setup for their devices, but only 12 of 21 products provided replacement procedures and 11 listed which tools are required to disassemble the product. Twelve of the manuals we reviewed contain an exploded diagram, which is a common repair diagram used to showcase the order and spatial relationship between parts. The vast majority of manuals offer troubleshooting tips on how to fix common issues.
In a conversation with Meta regarding self-repairs on the VR headset Meta Quest 3, customer support advised us that “we are not offering repair as of this moment” and that “we do not replace parts of the device”.
In cases where we couldn’t locate the repair manuals or parts, we reached out to customer service representatives, though these interactions were often unhelpful.
We have reason to believe that the issue could be a lack of communication with customer service teams. For example, even though Apple received good marks for their compliance on our scorecard for the iPhone 15, our interaction with their customer service team seemed to imply that there was no self-repair option for their phones. We were told by an Apple support representative that “only trained Apple Technician[s]” would be able to replace our phone screen or battery, despite a full repair manual and robust parts selection available on the Apple website.
Some customer service agents would not assist us in accessing repair materials and information until we could provide proof of purchase and a registered serial number. This was the case for the Canon cameras, Amazon Fire tablet, Asus Zenbook laptop, and Microsoft Surface Studio tablet, all of which required product registry to obtain information on repair materials from customer service representatives.
In a conversation with an Apple customer service representative, we were told that “we are bounded with Apple’s policy” and that “only trained Apple Technicians” would be able to replace a phone battery and screen. As we were denied this self-service option, they assured us that “Apple wants the best for you.”
Smartphones were the highest ranking device type of the six device types we reviewed, with all of the four major brands surveyed providing substantive repair materials. With the growing consumer demand for accessible repairs, smartphones have risen to the occasion and offer some of the most repairable devices on our scorecard.
All four of the manufacturers for the phones which fell under our criteria, the iPhone 15, Samsung ZFlip 5, Motorola Razr+, and Google Pixel, provide detailed repair manuals, as well as a range of spare parts for sale, for users on their websites.
These products earned either A or A-. The repair manuals were easily accessible, and documented step by step procedures on how to disassemble and reassemble the devices, along with a list of the parts and tools required to make repairs safely.
These phones had service manuals that detailed all the required elements on our scorecard and provided screens and batteries without issue. The Apple iPhone 15 and Motorola Razr+ earned slightly higher scores due to the greater number of different spare parts available.
We had the most difficulty accessing repair materials for the cameras we surveyed, including models from Nikon, Sony, Fujifilm, and Canon.
Neither Sony, Nikon or Fujifilm offered repair documentation when it was requested from customer service representatives, and Canon required proof of purchase and a serial number in order to assist us. While these cameras have detailed user guides, there is no information about replacing broken components, disassembling the camera or other basic repair information.
Nikon representatives wrote that “Nikon makes available certain information, repair parts and tool available for self-repair of certain products as we believe appropriate”. They then stated that only two products were available for self repair, the binoculars Coolshot 20i GIII and Coolshot 20 GIII. Sony representatives stated that “Repair Manuals are only provided to Sony Accredited Centers and Certified Technicians”.
Canon has a self repair hotline that promises access to genuine parts and documentation for independent repair. These materials, however, are not available without a proof of purchase and serial number for the requested product. Without access to this information, it was impossible to accurately score Canon’s repair materials since most of them are kept hidden behind product registry. We believe that this barrier is unreasonable, there is no reason to deny customers access to this information by requiring receipts.
Sony responded by saying while the company doesn’t provide repair information, you can usually get what you need by searching iFixit or on YouTube.
Apple and Meta don’t have a clear vision for VR repairs
In addition to the more traditional electronics surveyed, we looked at the new VR headsets on the market, the Apple Vision Pro and the Meta Quest 3. When contacted, Meta explained “that we are not offering repair as of the moment” and “do not replace parts of the device.”
Neither product had any available service manual or spare parts, despite being covered by the New York Right to Repair law.
Many companies have expanded their repair programs, but others have not. On July 1, 2024, California and Minnesota laws will come into effect, and laws passed in Oregon and Colorado are also on the horizon. Companies which do not have manuals or spare parts available should make them available.
This investigation evaluates and grades manufacturers on how available their manuals and spare parts are, and is not intended as a definitive analysis on whether any manufacturer is in violation of the New York law. The New York Attorney General’s office should follow up with those who do not have posted repair materials and determine whether these companies are out of compliance.
The New York Right to Repair Bill has had mixed success. It has gone a long way in pushing companies towards greater repair standards, but it has been surpassed by newer repair bills in other states like the recent passage in Oregon. In order for this bill to remain useful for the people of New York, it should be updated to bring it in line with newer repair standards, as well as provide greater enforcement to move companies towards full compliance in the future.
In Minnesota and California, Right to Repair covers the devices covered in New York (except video game consoles), but reaches back to devices first sold starting in July of 2021. Both also cover home appliances. Minnesota is somewhat broader, covering business computers, such as enterprise networking equipment. Colorado’s latest Right to Repair law has a similar scope to Minnesota. Updating New York’s Right to Repair laws to mirror those passed elsewhere will improve its effectiveness.
Will is an advocate and researcher for the national Right to Repair campaign and provides support for PIRG’s New Economy campaigns. Will lives just outside of Boston where he gardens, reads and is often found experimenting with wild new recipes in the kitchen.
Nathan leads U.S. PIRG’s Right to Repair campaign, working to pass legislation that will prevent companies from blocking consumers’ ability to fix their own electronics. Nathan lives in Arlington, Massachusetts, with his wife and two children.
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