Press Release: 7/3/2025
New report: As new Right to Repair laws sweep the country, some companies remain obstacles to the laws’ success
JULY 2, 2025
MEDIA CONTACTS
Executive Director, MASSPIRG Education Fund
BOSTON — With momentum that has grown over the past several years, some one-third of Americans now live in a state with a Right to Repair law that requires manufacturers to provide fair access to repair materials including spare parts and service manuals. U.S. PIRG Education Fund’s new report, Leaders and Laggards II, finds that, despite these requirements, many manufacturers do not provide the things people need to fix their laptops, phones, and other products.
The new scorecard grades 25 products across five categories for how easily and thoroughly consumers can access repair documentation and spare parts. Of those 25 products, 40% received a D or an F, 28% received Bs or Cs, and 32% received As. When researchers tried to get the repair materials the law requires manufacturers to provide, we could not access a repair manual for 48%, and 44% had no spare parts available.
“The premise of Right to Repair is simple: it’s our stuff, and we should be allowed to fix it — not just in theory, in the real world,” explained Nathan Proctor, senior director of U.S. PIRG Education Fund’s Right to Repair Campaign, and the report’s co-author. “It’s time for manufacturers to better comply with the growing number of state repair laws, and for attorneys general in impacted states to step in when companies fail to.”
One year ago today (July 1), the Right to Repair community celebrated “Repair Independence Day,” as Right to Repair laws took effect in California and Minnesota. Both of those laws improved upon New York’s pioneering consumer Right to Repair law, which took effect in December 2023. Thanks to continued advocacy, new laws in Colorado, Oregon, Connecticut, Texas and Washington will begin to require access to repair options for similar products over the coming year and a half. A bill has been pending in the Massachusetts Legislature for over a decade.
Despite more than a few states passing right to repair laws, the new report found that manufacturers are not doing enough to support the repair of their products. Among the other findings of the report are:
No dishwasher earned a grade above a C.
Laptops all received As or Bs, reflecting the improvement in repair programs for laptops across the board.
Even though consumer electronics companies are doing well with repair material availability for smartphones and laptops, tablet repair materials lag behind.
MSI, Atari, and Sony all fail to provide any repair materials for the game consoles we reviewed.
“We know from studies that repair cuts waste, and would save Bay Staters money. If we joined our neighbors in Connecticut and New York, as well as other states around the country, we could make a more effective call to manufacturers to step up,” said Janet Domenitz, Director of the MASSPIRG Education Fund.
Bills to establish a digital right to repair have been pending in the Massachusetts Legislature for several years, filed by state Rep. Adrian Madaro and state Sen. Michael Brady.
The full breakdown of scored products is below:
