The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is investigating whether John Deere engaged in unfair practices in repairing its agricultural equipment that may violate the FTC Act.
The investigation into John Deere's restrictions on customers' right to repair farm equipment has been uncovered by data analytics firm Hargrove & Associates, Inc. (HAI) as it fights a subpoena-like civil investigative demand (CID) from the FTC to hand over sales data. As previously reported by ReutersThe company fears that sharing the information the FTC collects about farm equipment sales could harm its business relationships.
“We are cooperating with the FTC, we cannot comment further at this time while an investigation is ongoing,” John Deere spokeswoman Jen Hartmann said in a statement.
John Deere has been a key target (along with Apple) of the Right to Repair movement, which seeks to provide customers with more options for repairing devices using third-party services to expand access and reduce costs. But companies that have resisted fully opening up their ecosystem tend to cite security issues, a message that John Deere CTO Jahmy Hindman reiterated during his 2021 appearance decoder Podcast. He argued: “Do you really want a tractor driving on the road with software that has been modified for steering or for braking in ways that could have consequences that no one has thought of?”