proprietary parts racket

Beigg

Beigg

Club Member
I've often wondered how OEM's could make parts proprietary yet there's nothing in place by law to mandate the OEM to supply for "x" years @ a reasonable price to what they are claiming proprietary.
Even with the exclusive rights set in place, the OEM's still are not meeting demands, & if they are, the pricing is terribly high.

If they can obtain a patent, then why cant they be held to a set of standards & expectations? When I read an automotive manufacturer put in place a patent to something, I think monopoly.
 
The automotive industry is bad enough, you want really bad,
check out the pharmaceutical companies.
 
I understand the premise behind proprietary products, but it always comes at the expense of the consumers. We see this all over in the tech sector as well. The truth of the matter, the proprietary side of the argument is hampering progress. If patents had a max life of 5 years, we would see an explosion of innovation across every sector. Instead, they want to pat you on the back, wink, and make you feel proud you bought into their walled garden of limited choices and capabilities.
 
I am not sure what you mean by proprietary. Anyone who wants to make headlights for a car can go right ahead. It is more like it costs too much to get into the market. How much does a fender die line cost and can you make that back at $200 a part?

-Geoff
 
WhiteHawk said:
I am not sure what you mean by proprietary. Anyone who wants to make headlights for a car can go right ahead. It is more like it costs too much to get into the market. How much does a fender die line cost and can you make that back at $200 a part?

-Geoff
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My point is, if legal protections are either too weak or too strong, innovation suffers. There's a sweet spot in the middle and we're well past it.
 
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WhiteHawk said:
I am not sure what you mean by proprietary. Anyone who wants to make headlights for a car can go right ahead. It is more like it costs too much to get into the market. How much does a fender die line cost and can you make that back at $200 a part?

-Geoff
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It's not necessarily a headlamp housing or body panel. It might be more on the module side or something like a unique turbo that is/was a technological game changer. It might have software or hardware that still being developed at the OEM level, meaning, they wouldn't want someone reproducing a part that there might be a similar prototype revision in the near future. If that makes sense.
 
So you want a company to spend millions or billions of dollars on research and development and then just give out their information/products to anyone who wants to use them after a few years?
 
Basically, we want to spend billions so the Chinese can copy our parts and sell them back to us for pennies on the dollar.
 
What OEM's really hate is branding violations. Putting a MOPAR label, for instance on a substandard Chinese part and when it fails the consumer wants to sue FCA for $100 million dollars. Then the OEM has to spend boatloads proving it wasn't their part. But for the most part Geoff is correct, anybody can copy just about any auto component they want to.
 
DBK said:
Basically, we want to spend billions so the Chinese can copy our parts and sell them back to us for pennies on the dollar.
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I see this more and more every day. Entire product line decisions are made based on technology export to China. The way China runs its auto business, you have to have a Chinese partner there. They want the foreign companies to teach them how to make cars. It is such a racket. They have no concept of intellectual property there.

-Geoff
 
Scooter70 said:
So you want a company to spend millions or billions of dollars on research and development and then just give out their information/products to anyone who wants to use them after a few years?
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No. What would make sense is if the OEM is granted a license for there "unique" item, then they would also adhere to governing statutes/laws mandating them to maintaining a fair & reasonable price of after production demands. As it is now, they upcharge the out of production parts to a point that nobody will buy them, yet "they stock it available" for anyone willing to 'take it up the rear' pricing.
 
Is there something in particular you are referring to? Just curious since I am not exactly following you here. There is very little that is actually patented on a car.

-Geoff
 
Read this....http://www.autonews.com/article/20171203/OEM10/171209934/magneride-rides-again] About Delphi bankruptcy and BWI Beijing West Industries buying the MangeRide sector.

Regarding your comments on production OEM replacement parts. It has to do with the standards the parts are designed to meet. They are tested to
these standards by the OEM's and government depending on the part. Not sure what you're referring to but most parts are produced 20 years past a vehicle's production ends if there is demand.
 
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Kind of along those lines - I won't even buy aftermarket brake pads anymore, and especially stay away from aftermarket brake systems in general. A friend of mine worked on a brake program with a major aftermarket supplier (who had zero OEM experience) who literally couldn't get their parts to pass OEM testing. I am talking about 12 months of testing and retesting until they literally called one day and said "We're out". They walked away and never got paid a dime for all the tooling and testing. I am not going to put the name out there, but it is one everybody knows. Only OEM pads and calipers for me after that. It was eye opening.

-Geoff
 
WhiteHawk said:
Kind of along those lines - I won't even buy aftermarket brake pads anymore, and especially stay away from aftermarket brake systems in general. A friend of mine worked on a brake program with a major aftermarket supplier (who had zero OEM experience) who literally couldn't get their parts to pass OEM testing. I am talking about 12 months of testing and retesting until they literally called one day and said "We're out". They walked away and never got paid a dime for all the tooling and testing. I am not going to put the name out there, but it is one everybody knows. Only OEM pads and calipers for me after that. It was eye opening.

-Geoff
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Same basic story for wheel bearings. You'd have to pay me to put an aftermarket overseas bearing on my vehicles. I will say though that there can be OEM quality parts in some of the aftermarket brand's boxes. It can just be tricky figuring out who's part is actually in the box.
 
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