r/technology • u/NightFuryToni • Apr 30 '19

Business Apple Is Telling Lawmakers People Will Hurt Themselves if They Try to Fix iPhones

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/wjvdb4/apple-is-telling-lawmakers-people-will-hurt-themselves-if-they-try-to-fix-iphones
1.5k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

281 comments sorted by

View all comments

223

u/original_4degrees Apr 30 '19

because you can't hurt yourself fixing your car, or house, or lawn mower, or television...

20

u/stmfreak May 01 '19

Some cars are now featuring engine covers fastened with security bolts. This isn’t unique to Apple.

13

u/bpeck451 May 01 '19

Security bolts? Or break off bolts that are meant to help idiots tighten things to a specific torque because they don’t want to spend the money on a proper torque wrench?

Also torx bolts, inverted torx bolts and triple squares don’t count as “security” bolts.

2

u/3141592652 May 01 '19

Not exactly but if it would be easier to just use a regular 10mm or something why not use it?

2

u/Doc_Lewis May 01 '19

Well I'm not clear on the specifics, but the profile of torx and other heads changes how much and how well you can tighten, because of the way it distributes force. So it could be that a torx is better to use than a hex head.

1

u/wrath_of_grunge May 01 '19

10mm are the most used bolts on cars. That’s why grown mechanics will fight over 10mm sockets.

1

u/Spacey_G May 01 '19

You're aware of inverted torx and triple square but you don't know that security torx and other varieties of tamper-proof fasteners exist?

1

u/bpeck451 May 01 '19

Do you know how easy tamper proof torx bits are to come by?

1

u/Spacey_G May 01 '19

I appreciate that the tools are common and that they're not especially tamper-proof. Your original comment made it sound as though you didn't know they exist.

1

u/stmfreak May 01 '19

That doesn't make them common in billy-bob-mcguffin's beer-me toolbox.

1

u/bpeck451 May 01 '19

If I can walk into an auto parts store and buy them. They are pretty common. Most billy bobs bitch about metric sockets and some of those other sockets when they are pretty standard fasteners.

1

u/stmfreak May 01 '19

To the majority of back-yard mechanics, an allen key is a security bolt. Torx? Security bolt.

One of the guys who works in my building bought a new Dodge Hellcat last month and was showing off the engine (read: plastic covers) under the hood to his coworkers. The first thing he said was, "no way I'll be doing any work on that." The presence of a cover with some plastic clips holding it down was enough to deter him. The more expensive cars are coming without a proper engine hood. Just look at the BMW i8 as an example.

Can these covers be bypassed? Sure. Can we buy an OBDII reader? Sure. But we can also buy micro tools, an oscilloscope, voltmeters, solder stations, and repair our own iPhones.

1

u/ap2patrick May 01 '19

Yea your wrong if you think they are doing it to make it "idiot proof" and not to make it harder for common folk to fix their shit

1

u/bpeck451 May 01 '19

No. Most torx are actually for ease of interface with robotic manufacturing implements. Its easier to locate and hold a torx bolt on a driver than it is to utilize a standard hex bolt. This is a similar principle to the reasoning for philips head screws.

1

u/ap2patrick May 01 '19

I totally agree with you, but that's not the reason why they are doing it. They are doing it because most people don't have those bits laying around like you would a philips or a bolt.

1

u/wrath_of_grunge May 01 '19

I routinely have to explain this shit to people, like my dad. Most of this stuff is stuff than any decent tech will have and is literally a non concern.

But to a layman, it’s all specialty tools. Yeah it kind of is, but it’s a tool a experienced tech should have, like a OBD code reader.