By eric<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you needed another reason to shun new cars (it\u2019s weird for me \u2013 a guy who loves cars and has been writing about them professionally for decades \u2013 to type those words) I have one for you. Just two words, actually:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Component Protection<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is what VW and Audi call the $300-$500 fee<\/a> owners of their vehicles must pay to \u201cunlock\u201d the software lock embedded in the vehicle\u2019s inscrutable maze of subroutines so that a used replacement part you bought, such as a body control module (these things control many functions in new vehicles, including the power windows) or the gauges or the replacement stereo you installed will work. The parts you got may be identical, original VW parts and in working order. You \u2013 or your independent repair shop \u2013 may have installed the part correctly. But they will not work until you cough up the $300-$500 fee to your local VW\/Audi dealer, who is the only one that has access to the VW\/Audi Hive Mind server that can interface with the inscrutable maze of subroutines in the vehicle, to \u201cunlock\u201d the system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is of course all for our own good. A theft protection measure, you see. If someone were to take the audio system out of your vehicle, it would be of no use to the thief. But then comes a different sort of thievery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The idea seems to be to effectively force VW owners to deal with VW dealers since no one else can \u201cunlock\u201d the vehicle\u2019s inscrutable maze of subroutines. It is a kind of private sector iteration of the way the car insurance mafia forces people \u2013 effectively \u2013 to buy car insurance, at an exorbitant price because that\u2019s what happens when you can\u2019t say no to what you\u2019re effectively forced to buy. The main difference is that in this instance \u2013 as regards the \u201cunlocking\u201d \u2013 the transaction does not involve the government. That means you at least have the option of not buying a new car that isn\u2019t really yours, because how could it be if you must pay the manufacturer or its dealer network to \u201cunlock\u201d it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n This \u201cunlocking\u201d stuff is not the same thing as paying to get something fixed \u2013 because what you\u2019re paying for is permission to be allowed to fix the vehicle. The vehicle you paid for, that is at least in a vague legal sense \u201cyours.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is something like having to pay the government a regular fee \u2013 the property tax \u2013 in order to not be locked out of the house you paid for, that really isn\u2019t your house for just this reason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is also a way to make it uneconomical to buy used original and aftermarket replacement parts to repair a vehicle since the money that might have been saved by purchasing a good used or aftermarket part is lost \u2013 and probably then some \u2013 via the \u201cunlocking\u201d fee you have to pay a dealer in order for it to function. The dealer will of course be happy to sell you a brand-new OEM part for what it would have cost you to buy the less-expensive used or aftermarket part, plus the \u201cunlocking\u201d fee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And charge you the hourly dealer rate to install it, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Obviously, this amounts to an attempt to drive the used and aftermarket parts alternatives (as well as independent shops) out of business, not by the honest method of competition but by the got-you-over-the-barrel method of predation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n VW\/Audi is not the only vehicle manufacturer that does this \u2013 or something similar to this. One of my professional mechanic friends tells me about the time he installed a new windshield wiper motor in a Ford vehicle and discovered it would not work until it was \u201cpaired\u201d with the vehicle \u2013 by a Ford dealership computer. The same goes for headlights in some late model vehicles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Several automakers have made it very expensive for independent shops (and effectively impossible for the do-it-yourselfer) to even figure out what\u2019s wrong with one of their vehicles by hiding the information \u2013 the data \u2013 behind a paywall. You have to have the \u201cauthorized\u201d diagnostic equipment \u2013 or pay an exorbitant fee for subscription access to the data. The costs and fees are so high that many independent shops can\u2019t justify paying them because they probably won\u2019t make enough fixing the vehicles to make it worth fixing them. So they tell people who might otherwise have been their customers that they can\u2019t work on that brand of vehicle and they\u2019ll need to take it to a dealership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You probably have heard about the way John Deere \u2013 the tractor company \u2013 also effectively forces people who own (sic) John Deere equipment to get it fixed by a John Deere dealer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s very strange and vicious thing to assert de facto ownership over something that has been sold. Yet that is what it amounts to. The assertion is that while you own the vehicle, they still own the code \u2013 the proprietary software that runs the thing. Bill Gates was the pioneer of this business model. You buy the box but he \u2013 Microsoft owns what\u2019s in the box. If you want to keep on using it, you must pay a licensing fee. The car industry saw this business model and liked it. It being more profitable to sell you a vehicle and then sell you permission to repair it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.ericpetersautos.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/component-protection-696x706.jpg\" "\\"\\"\/")
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