First & foremost- thank you to all the techs who are willing to share information. I never want to put anyone's job at risk, but I do appreciate the knowledge & experience you so willingly share. I do believe that the information lockdown comes from the manufacturer & the dealer is just following orders.

I read the entire post & noticed that in the case of the auto industry, the aftermarket association was behind getting the right to repair legislation thru. Am I correct on this? My point is that the auto manufacturers would have been quite content in never devulging any information. That would have been the death of independent repair shops. Independent auto repair shops now subcribe & pay for such services as Alldata & Snap-On Motis to name but a few. I'm quite sure that the auto makers don't just give this information away- but charge quite a hefty fee. This keeps competition healthy & benefits the consumer- a double bonus.

And a thank you to meliftman for acknowledging my experience with the dealer. I believe that my experience may be different than yours because I'm an independent & have no leverage of information (IMO).