A settlement between the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and John Deere guarantees access to its repair information for the next decade.
The FTC announced on July 8 that it had settled with John Deere. According to records from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the FTC filed a lawsuit on Jan. 15, 2025, claiming that John Deere provided crucial repair information only to authorized dealers.
Auto glass companies will now have access to John Deere repair information.
“By making this tool available only to Deere dealers, Deere forces farmers to turn to Deere dealers for critical repairs rather than complete the repairs themselves or choose an independent repair provider that may be cheaper, closer, faster or more trusted,” the FTC’s initial filing says.
The settlement requires John Deere to share repair information with farmers and independent repairers, including auto glass companies, working on John Deere equipment, for the next 10 years.
“Today’s settlement enables farmers to do what they’ve done for generations—fix their own tractors and other farm equipment—without having to pay an authorized John Deere dealer to do it for them,” Bureau of Competition director Daniel Guarnera said in a statement released by the FTC. “The settlement with Deere will help lower costs for American farmers. The FTC will continue fighting against anticompetitive restrictions on American consumers’ right to repair.”
According to AP News, John Deere settled a class action lawsuit over the same issue for approximately $99 million in April.
