Already part of the law in the EU. There's a minimum warranty of 2 years, and in some countries there is an additional "reasonable expectation" period. That $2000 fridge is expected to last 10 to 20 years, so if it breaks down after 5 years of normal use it's a manufacturing issue and they'll have to fix it.
The minimum warranty for all products sold in the EU is two years. Beyond that, it depends on the country and the type of product. For example, in NL consumer warranty claims are based on "reasonable lifetime" expections of the product, based on guidelines from the manufacturing sector [0]. For your €2000 refrigerator you could reasonably claim warranty for 8 years after purchase.
In germany and maybe the entire EU there is a one year mandatory time where the manufacturer has to replace/fix the item and after the replace/fix event there is another 2 months on top.
Maybe make it into category's where more money equals more guaranteed work time unless specifically excempt due to the nature of the product, but most electronics should be able to work one year at the very least.
but it doesn't solve the problem that things are manufactured to break.
No. That isn't the problem. You do want to have things which are engineered for a specific life time. The alternative is things which aren't engineered for a specific life time and might break any time, even extremely early. You either define how long your product should last or you don't, the former is vastly preferable.
Repairability solves the problem of the minimum life time of a product being determined by a single component.
"Sure your $2000 refrigerator died after a year, but now you can pay to make it work again" is a garbage bargain.
It depends. If the cost of replacing parts is cheaper than a product which by itself would last the same time it is a good bargain.
In almost any product you have components which are hard to make in such a way that the product lasts over a long time. Some things will naturally wear out and, if no replacement parts are available, make the whole product obsolete.
Unfortunately repairability doesn't solve it. Even when it can be repaired, the repair can easily cost more than the product is worth. If anything I expect them to cheap out on parts, because they can now bring it as an "affordable" replacement for a "wear part" rather than just putting in the right part at manufacturing.
We're already seeing this with "repair kits": to replace that $0.50 thing that broke, you have to put in a new $100 sub-assembly. USB connector broken? Guess you're getting a new logic board! Battery worn? Sorry, gotta buy a new screen too.
The entire product should be engineered to last roughly the same amount of time, with no artificial wear items. But that's simply not what we're seeing these days.
Comments
Right to repair is great, but it doesn't solve the problem that things are manufactured to break.
What I always want is a guaranteed minimum product life that isn't absolute shit.
"Sure your $2000 refrigerator died after a year, but now you can pay more to make it work again" is a garbage bargain.
In that case you will probably approve of the expanded Ecodesign rules from last year:
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20230612IP...
Already part of the law in the EU. There's a minimum warranty of 2 years, and in some countries there is an additional "reasonable expectation" period. That $2000 fridge is expected to last 10 to 20 years, so if it breaks down after 5 years of normal use it's a manufacturing issue and they'll have to fix it.
Repairability and longevity go together, since the easier it is to repair the cheaper it is to offer long warranties.
The minimum warranty for all products sold in the EU is two years. Beyond that, it depends on the country and the type of product. For example, in NL consumer warranty claims are based on "reasonable lifetime" expections of the product, based on guidelines from the manufacturing sector [0]. For your €2000 refrigerator you could reasonably claim warranty for 8 years after purchase.
[0] https://www.technieknederland.nl/stream/richtlijnenafschrijv... (PDF)
In germany and maybe the entire EU there is a one year mandatory time where the manufacturer has to replace/fix the item and after the replace/fix event there is another 2 months on top.
I thought it was 2 years warranty across Europe now?
Yes it's 2 years (if you are buying it as the consumer)
[1]: https://www.eccnet.eu/consumer-rights/what-are-my-consumer-r...
Thank you for the clarification
sounds like an incentive to make sure things only fail after 14 months, then
Maybe make it into category's where more money equals more guaranteed work time unless specifically excempt due to the nature of the product, but most electronics should be able to work one year at the very least.
No. That isn't the problem. You do want to have things which are engineered for a specific life time. The alternative is things which aren't engineered for a specific life time and might break any time, even extremely early. You either define how long your product should last or you don't, the former is vastly preferable.
Repairability solves the problem of the minimum life time of a product being determined by a single component.
It depends. If the cost of replacing parts is cheaper than a product which by itself would last the same time it is a good bargain.
In almost any product you have components which are hard to make in such a way that the product lasts over a long time. Some things will naturally wear out and, if no replacement parts are available, make the whole product obsolete.
Unfortunately repairability doesn't solve it. Even when it can be repaired, the repair can easily cost more than the product is worth. If anything I expect them to cheap out on parts, because they can now bring it as an "affordable" replacement for a "wear part" rather than just putting in the right part at manufacturing.
We're already seeing this with "repair kits": to replace that $0.50 thing that broke, you have to put in a new $100 sub-assembly. USB connector broken? Guess you're getting a new logic board! Battery worn? Sorry, gotta buy a new screen too.
The entire product should be engineered to last roughly the same amount of time, with no artificial wear items. But that's simply not what we're seeing these days.