Whether it be electronics, automobiles or medical equipment, the manufacturers should not be able to horde “oem” parts, render your stuff useless if you repair it with aftermarket parts, or hide schematics of their products.
Summary video by Marques Brownlee
Great channel covering and advocating right to repair, Lewis Rossman
Basic blender went bad (motor ran but spindle wasn't rotating). I wanted to disassemble to see if it could be repaired. Three of the four screws were Phillips head. I had to cut the casing open in order to discover why I couldn't unscrew the fourth. It was a slotted spanner.
Madison, I'm not really sure what you're argument is here. Let's look at your seat belt argument. Torx (or star bits as they're now called since Torx is a brand name) has become a ubiquitous standard in the automotive world and absolutely irrelevant to the poor point you're trying to make. Auto makers use star bits because they enable a rounded dome shape that is smaller and requires no space around the bolt head to accommodate a thick socket. You may have assumed it was to prevent removal but no auto maker has ever declared that as a reason. Considering that even basic starter tool kits come with star bits these days I'd say that makes them a poor choice as a lawsuit prevention method. There are too many other "dangerous products" out there that don't have silly screws and yet somehow are able to avoid frivolous lawsuits. I'm not sure why defending this practice is the hill your want to die on but making repairs difficult to avoid a lawsuit is something only a sucker would believe.
They're literally called security bits you absolute bell end, the name is literally the description of their purpose.