For ten years, Deere has to give independent repair shops the same software it gives its own dealers.
Deere & Co. and the Federal Trade Commission settled a lawsuit brought by the FTC and five states, the agency announced. The suit, filed in January 2025 by the FTC alongside Illinois, Arizona, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, alleged Deere unlawfully limited what farmers and independent providers could repair on their own equipment.
What the settlement actually unlocks
The FTC’s core allegation was narrow and technical: Deere makes the only software tools capable of performing every electronic repair on its machines, and it restricted those tools to authorized dealers. Under the settlement, four capabilities move to independent shops and owners. Reading, clearing and resetting electronic fault codes. Reprogramming electronic components. Restarting a machine after an emissions-related shutdown. Viewing and searching technical manuals.
That third one is the expensive one. An emissions derate strands a machine on site until somebody with dealer software clears it, and the wait is measured in days on a busy jobsite.
The agreement includes a forward-looking clause: any repair resource Deere gives to more than 50% of its authorized dealers has to be made available to farmers and independent providers too. Deere also has to instruct dealers to publicize availability.
Why construction fleets care about a farm equipment case
Deere is a major supplier of excavators, dozers, loaders and articulated trucks, not just tractors. The economics the FTC described are the same ones contractors have lived with: diagnostics locked behind a dealer relationship, downtime priced by whoever holds the laptop, and no competitive check on the repair bill.
“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,” said Daniel Guarnera, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition.
Deere framed it cooperatively. “It is good news for our customers and for the future of how Deere equipment is supported,” said Denver Caldwell, the company’s vice president of aftermarket and customer support.
The precedent is the point
A dominant OEM has now agreed, under federal pressure, to share diagnostic software and reprogramming tools with the independent market. That’s the template other equipment manufacturers will be measured against, and state right-to-repair legislation has been accumulating for years waiting for exactly this kind of anchor.
For fleet managers the practical question is capability, not principle. Independent access only reduces downtime if independent shops staff and train for it. Deere separately settled a related federal class action in April for $99 million, covering customers who paid authorized dealers for repairs on large equipment purchased since January 10, 2018.
Sources: Construction Dive, FTC.