The fundamental problem with easy repairability is that you need to maintain availability of replacement parts. How can you expect that a given piece of equipment is repairable if you cannot get a replacement PCB? Manufacturing the old electronics is often not possible because regulations change. When leaded solder was banned, some old PCB designs were unaffected, others had to be redone. Components may no longer be available.
So if you had to do a repair job it is entirely possible that a replacement PCB has to be designed from scratch. Doing this for every model is not possible so there would have to be a standard PCB used by all models. Considering the high degree of integration in many products, that is a pipe dream.
The only real solution is longer warranties to keep the manufacturer accountable.
That sounds like requirements for military use. On a civilian level, there are certainly other, less hard-nosed possibilities. Legislature could mandate the following instead:
• The manufacturer is forbidden to prevent a supplier from offering replacement parts on the free market.
• The manufacturer is forbidden from coercing a supplier to slightly modify a standard part just to make it incompatible and thus cripple third-party repair.
• The manufacturer must supply a repair manual with component data sheets and schematics so that a suitable replacement part can be produced by third parties.
Thus we return to the standard of repairability we enjoyed in the previous century. These ideas are free to implement or certainly magnitudes less expensive than keeping stock of replacement parts which takes the wind out of the sails of opposition to these changes in ordinance or law.
I don't feel too bad about replacement parts being obsoleted for good reason (e.g. leaded solder or similar changes). My car/vacuum/desk/etc. might get hit by a meteor, or fall down the stairs, or otherwise be totaled. Life is full of risks.
What I care about is good intent and reasonable measures to support me for the lifetime of the product. In most cases, I can't get replacement parts because manufacturers discontinue them after a few years as a business choice, not because they have to. Most manufacturers rotate product models every year, and I presume it's expensive and not good business to stock parts for models from a decade ago. That's what I want to avoid. I'd like a manufacturer that will continue supporting me as long as reasonable.
What I do now is I look at manufacturer's web pages, and see the oldest products they still support. It's pathetically short.
My last vacuum lasted 15 years before replacement parts ceased to exist. I've been looking at upscale Dyson vacuums, and the oldest ones with replacement parts are a decade old from date-of-introduction (less from date-of-purchase, of course). For a $800 vacuum, that means you're looking at an annualized cost of $80-$160 before you're dumped on the curb.
Of course, there are companies which simply don't offer replacement parts. If a roller or belt fails, the vacuum is disposable. The TCO seems similar, since those don't run $800, though, and a $150 vacuum will probably last a couple of years before something breaks.
What I'd really like is a web site which compiles this sort of information.
So if you had to do a repair job it is entirely possible that a replacement PCB has to be designed from scratch. Doing this for every model is not possible so there would have to be a standard PCB used by all models. Considering the high degree of integration in many products, that is a pipe dream.
The only real solution is longer warranties to keep the manufacturer accountable.