the automotive parts industry is massive and if you allow third party parts manufacturers to make parts for your car, you are undercutting your own parts replacement business. how do you counter that? you require that replacement parts come from you. the only way to do that is via electronic means, because anything purely mechanical can (and is) reverse engineered quickly.

insurance companies fight against this in court because 3rd party parts are much cheaper than official parts, and usually come with an associated dip in quality as well, which is another reason auto makers fight for first-party parts businesses.

Honda doesn't want Snake Oil Autoparts stuff installed on cars which are still under warranty after a collision, for example, but the insurance company paying for those repairs definitely does.

They lost the right to require things to do with thr car the y sold the car.

Electronic lockouts will be cobsidered theft one day

not if you want a warranty or any manufacturer support on the vehicle at all, and these are things that consumers value a lot.

> Electronic lockouts will be [considered] theft one day

among the most feverish people, they are considered a problem worth fighting, which I agree with, and I don't think it will ever be considered theft. the law just doesn't support electronic lockouts as theft, and precedent on this would be very difficult to undo without changes to laws defining what ownership actually is.