New EU law requires devices to be repairable - Every phone, television or washing machine you buy in Europe must be easier to repair starting tomorrow. That’s when the European Right to Repair Act takes effect

The products covered by the obligation to repair currently include:

• washing machines and washer-dryers
• dishwashers
• refrigerators
• electronic displays
• welding equipment
• servers and data storage products
• mobile phones, cordless phones and tablets
• tumble dryers 
• e-bikes and e-scooters batteries (from 18 February 2027)
• local space heaters

www.nporadio1.nl/fragmenten/nos-met-het-oog-op-morgen/019fb4ba-4def-735d-a758-1ba6b55e6f79/2026-07-30-apparaten-verplicht-repareerbaar-door-nieuwe-eu-wet

Water kettle stopped working, has fucking temper proof triangle head screws so can’t even open it without having to buy a special screwdriver bit. name and shame : kitchenaid

That’s the thing about repairing things at home or anywhere else. You need tools to do so and more than just a screwdriver and a pair of pliers. You often special tools. You can get a set of triangle bits for maybe 4 to 5 euros and you will have them for life. So don’t be a cheap. Either fix that kettle yourself, pay someone with the skills and tools to fix it, or buy a new one. But don’t whinge about not having tools.

And let’s also be honest. Some things need to be tamper proof. Most of you ain’t smart enough and experienced enough to play with things that can injure/kill you or others, no matter how many youtube videos you watch.

A eater kettle does not have that much stuff inside that it should be tamlre proof for fuck’s sake. It can use normal screws like phillips, hex or torx.

if its an electric kettle, I have to disagree. Those have the equivalent of a stovetop going through them when in use, and have a degree of water protection required. I heavily disagree with easy to access and remove screws on those. I still think they should be consumer repairable but, I think buying a set of P screwdrivers or whatever style they choose is a more than secure enough method of protecting people who don’t realize what they are doing.

Being said, many things that do have tamper or non-standard screws I think shouldn’t like the iphones, but I think appliances that have a burner element or a higher power draw should remain one of them.

Yeah but if you’re opening high power stuff while it’s plugged in thats on you. I get tamper protection on power supplies and stuff where you could get shocked by a capacitor. But a big heater not plugged in is harmless

Even if it’s unplugged first, I strongly disagree with the insinuation that since it’s unplugged it’s harmless. This is a device that uses the same amount of power draw as a stove top and has water contact as part of it’s daily use. If someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing decides they want to access it, and does it incorrectly, it has the capability of burning your house down.

Having a standard screw on it like a Phillips or a regular screwdriver significantly lowers the barrier of entry in allowing someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing to work on the equipment, which is why I think it’s fair that a component that has that capability has a something like a hex or a p bit. Those are both something that are not hard to obtain, but also something that you likely won’t find just randomly laying around in your house unless you already regularly work on devices or equipment.

Sorry but as long as it’s unplugged it’s literally just a bunch of wire. Wire by itself even a heating coil has no way of burning your house down while unplugged.