Following ‘Right To Repair’ Ruling, Harley-Davidson Faces Lawsuits

[advrider]

Harley-Davidson is facing a pair of Federal lawsuits following a Federal Trade Commission vote that upheld owners’ “right to repair” in June.

According to Reuters and other news outlets, the lawsuits do not allege that Harley-Davidson broke any specific laws as much as they may have limited owners’ choices on repair options and also allegedly threatened to void warranties over the installation of aftermarket parts. At the time, Westinghouse was also singled out for their warranty and repair policies.

Allegedly, Harley told owners that the bikes had to be repaired at Harley-run service facilities and factory parts had to be used to repair the bikes. Those actions allegedly run afoul of anti-competitiveness laws in California as well as antitrust provisions in Wisconsin, thus the latest legal action.

Back in June, the FTC rapped Harley’s (and others) knuckles over its use of the dreaded “terms of service” (TOS), which said “the use of parts and service procedures other than Harley-Davidson approved parts and service procedures may void the limited warranty.” If you’ve ever seen a Harley that didn’t have some aftermarket mods, that would be a rare bird indeed, so the TOS enforcement could potentially included thousands upon thousands of owners. The FTC told Harley and other companies to not only re-word their TOS and warranty verbiage, but to also let buyers/owners/consumers know of the changes.

Harley relented, clarifying that they could not (and would not) void a warranty over the installation of aftermarket parts, but the new wording did give them an out if the bike had a problem because an aftermarket part failed and caused the need for repair. Got that straight? That’s why lawyers are now involved.

Back in June, we wrote that Samuel Levine, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said “consumers deserve choices when it comes to repairing their products, and independent dealers deserve a chance to compete. These orders require Harley and Westinghouse to fix their warranties, come clean with consumers, and ensure fair competition with independent providers.”

We’ll now see if a new pair of court cases will further pressure companies to allow consumers – especially Harley owners and tech consumers – to customize and modify their wares while still providing warranty coverage with as few asterisks as possible. Stay tuned.

 

 

 

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