As the headline inquires.
I wondered if large companies on US soil were required by law to manufacture replacement parts for items they sell.? Thank you for your time.
By law, no, at least not in general. They might have contracts that require them to.
Auto companies are required to have repair parts available for as long as a car is under warranty, but they aren’t required to manufacture them. (Just like many of the original parts of the car weren’t actually manufactured by the auto company.)
I’m pretty sure that Apple for one, feels it is more economic [1], and more environmentally friendly [2] for you just to junk their malfunctioning [3] items and replace them with more of the same.
[1] For them.
[2] Postulating an infinite amount of stuff in the universe.
[3] Like replacing a battery.
Imagine trying to define what a replacement part is, how long it has to be made, and all the other issues involved. Now imagine keeping track of all the replacement parts of everything made in the U.S. Now imagine compliance and enforcement.
Talk about full employment legislation! It would take every adult in America working seven days a week monitoring each other while trying to keep straight part# 38376363837363 from 38376363847363 from 38376363837363y.
Manufacturers are not required to sell “parts” at all.
My company is a distributor for many manufactures that don’t sell any “parts” and in fact, many of their components are proprietary designs that you simply can’t get anywhere else.
When I lived in Germany in the mid-80s, I remember hearing about laws that required many years of replacement parts for major appliances.
Any German Dopers to comment on this?
I could be wrong, but having worked in the auto plants most of my life, I was always told that the manufacturer had to make parts available for a 10 year period after the sale.
Apple will repair / replace any device that is still under warranty, and usually many years past the warranty expiration, including replacing batteries.
*“If your iPad requires service due to the battery’s diminished ability to hold an electrical charge, Apple will **replace **your iPad for a service fee.”
*“No. You will receive a replacement iPad that will not contain any of your personal data. Before you submit your iPad for service, it is important to sync your iPad with iTunes to back up your contacts, calendars, email account settings, bookmarks, apps, etc. Apple is not responsible for the loss of information when servicing your iPad.”
Kind of different to selling you replacement parts for your mechanic to fix, as in the OP…
Does anyone have a cite for this?
It was law in Australia till the early nineties the manufacture had to carry parts for seven years. Now days that no longer applies although it’s expected the product will have a reasonable life which is often a complete replacement unit for consumer goods.
In the UK, there is no law as such, but many manufacturers of white goods are signed up to AMDEA (Association of Manufacturers of Electrical Domestic Appliances), and they have a voluntary code that states that spares parts should remain available “throughout the product’s expected life.”.
This site suggests that the likes of supermarkets, who buy in and brand white goods, don’t even have this.
If you read the OP, you would note that it says MAKE replacement parts, not sell YOU replacement parts.
It’s not at all unusual for companies to not sell spare parts to end users.
There are U.S.-mandated warranties for auto emissions - at the very least, they would want to have a supply of parts to handle that.
http://www.carcarepeople.com/a/federal-emission-warranty-how-it-works
This is a 2013 story about the writer’s problems trying to get parts for a ’95 Ford Taurus SHO. He had the same trouble with a 2003 Chrysler PT Cruiser.
Every company will sell replacement parts for every product they sell, for as long as they continue to sell the product. Most often, the replacement part will be sold in a bundle with a number of other parts, conveniently already assembled.
It’s an economic decision by the manufacturer as to what extent they make parts available: it’s often profitable selling the parts; it creates customer goodwill and an increased likelihood the customer will buy from that manufacturer in the future.
I would agree that it is likely up to the company, and should be that way. After all, if required to sell a replacement part, they could argue the “replacement part” is to simply buy a new item.
I know HP committed to supporting it’s larger printers with replacement parts and warranty service (if you paid for it) for something like ten years, but now I have an older printer that I’ve been advised that I can’t get some of the parts for any more. I just cross my fingers and hope it will run forever, just like me!
In fact, aside from the chassis, major body panels, and some engines, virtually no automaker actually manufactures components. Component manufacutre is done by a wide array of second and third tier automotive OEM suppliers under contracts which change regularly as automakers pit one against the other to get the absolute cheapest components at a given quailty level, not dissimilar to how electronics companies like Apple and Samsung bid Chinese and Korean suppliers to provide batteries, displays, and other elements.
The Magnuson-Moss warranty act assures that manufacturers assure that parts are available for the period that a product is covered under explicit or implied warranty. However, OEM suppliers usually maintain tooling after a production run and so can readily produce ‘third party’ components for aftermarket suppliers which are similar in configuration (if not always quality) to OEM components. And because it is generally cheaper to buy components in increasing volume, OEMs will stockpile and mainatain stocks in excess of that needed just for production and warranty needs. Parts availability is typically a problem only more than a decade after the end of initial production or for low volume import automobiles, though configuration changes that occur frequently within a production generation (sometimes within the same model year) can make parts difficult to source. Manufacturers have often taken to integratining subsystems with all parts only provided in assembled or kit form because it is cheaper to stock and often to procure, and also may provide a greater degree of reliability due to less variation in the installation process. This leads to “shade tree” mechanics complaining that newer cars are more difficult and expensive to work on, but ignores the fact that most modern cars require far less maintenance and have fewer failures to begin with.
Stranger