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# EU mandates five years of phone updates; automakers face no equivalent rule
- URL: https://adjacent.media/signals/eu-mandates-five-years-of-phone-updates-automakers-face-no-equivalent-rule/
- Published: 2026-08-16T16:07:11.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-16T16:07:11.000Z
- Description: The EU’s Digital Products Act requires smartphone makers to supply security and functionality updates for five years minimum, creating a legal floor for device longevity that the auto industry has successfully avoided despite cars lasting far longer and containing increasingly networked systems.
- Author: Jonathan Greene
- Tags: #signal, theme-culture, regulation/policy, consumer protection

Source: [The Next Web](https://thenextweb.com/news/software-defined-car-lifespan-updates-eu-rules?ref=adjacent.media)

The EU's Digital Products Act requires smartphone makers to supply security and functionality updates for five years minimum, creating a legal floor for device longevity that the auto industry has successfully avoided despite cars lasting far longer and containing increasingly networked systems. This regulatory gap reflects how different sectors have negotiated with policymakers—tech companies absorbed the update burden as a compliance cost, while automakers used fragmented supply chains and safety liability arguments to sidestep similar obligations, leaving owners of decade-old vehicles running on obsolete software. As cars become computers, manufacturers can now engineer planned obsolescence through software while claiming zero legal responsibility for security vulnerabilities in systems that control braking and steering.