Not really that hard. On most cars it's as simple as replacing a small board in a slot on your ECU. It's still not a basic user function. It's for the more advanced or more daring.
The biggest holdup is who do you go to for help when it fails? Hope the online forums will help? What do you do if you bricked it? Your carrier certainly won't help you, neither will the manufacturer. If you keep it stock, you can get the phone re-flashed at the carrier, or just get a free replacement. No matter how well the process has been packaged and simplified by those (admittedly very talented) modders, it's still hacking, and it comes with risks.
“Not really that hard. On most cars it’s as simple as replacing a small board in a slot on your ECU. It’s still not a basic user function. It’s for the more advanced or more daring.”
Not really that easy on my F-150 (a very popular vehicle). You actually had to disconnect the battery. Disconnect and remove the computer completely from the vehicle, open the case, scrape off some protective silicone on the leads, reistall the computer, plug in the programmer, and reconnect the battery. I’m going to consider that a little more complicated and a little more risk-involved than rooting/jailbreaking a phone.
Actually, I’ve seen a couple very experienced users over at XDA who bricked their phones due to a bad flash or something along those lines.
They just went to the store, played “dumb” and just said “it doesn’t work”. Both had their phones replace with no questions.