Should Your Right to Repair Your Car Be Protected?
From diagnostics to telematics, cars are becoming more high-tech. With all that added complexity, how will consumers maintain their right to repair their vehicles?
It’s no secret that cars are becoming increasingly complex machines. Every model’s list of new features includes more driver-assistance automation and infotainment options than the model that came before. Our vehicles are basically computers on wheels now.
All this added technology makes it much more difficult to
our own cars. But does that mean we shouldn’t be allowed to do it? Most automakers argue that the answer to this question is “yes,” and have come up with some wild reasons as to why.
But a growing number of car lovers, mechanics, and consumer-rights activists are fighting back—and have been for years. They argue that the government should protect their right to repair.
Big auto vs. the indie mechanic: a short history
The “right to repair” battle began in 1990, when the government mandated that all new vehicles be equipped with an emissions-diagnostics computer. The amendment to the Clean Air Act also forced manufacturers to share the new technology.
But Donut Media says the addendum protecting independent repairers only covered emissions-focused tech, so as the automotive industry became more digital, diagnosing engine problems became less and less accessible.
Despite the growing frustrations of mechanics and consumers, not much changed until 2012, when Massachusetts passed a bill to protect the right to repair. Automakers agreed to follow the bill nationwide if activists stopped pursuing more legislation. All seemed to be well—for a time.
MORE: How to Decide if You Should Take Your Car to a Repair Shop or a Mobile Mechanic
How is the right to repair still being threatened?
To the untrained eye, the 2012 Massachusetts law seemed to secure our right to repair. But one omission from the bill has allowed the problem to rear its ugly head again. The missing word? Telematics.
The data-sharing technology allows manufacturers to wirelessly communicate with their products. It powers much of the new features automakers have added to their vehicles in the past few years.
Automakers also use it to keep track of their customers’ maintenance needs, but because the tech isn’t included in the legislation, they are again excluding consumers and other outsiders from accessing the devices needed to translate the data.
Attempts to close the loophole were quashed by automaker-funded lobbyists until 2020, when citizens of Massachusetts again voted to open access to telematics data.
But any attempts to apply the new law across the country, including President Biden’s “right to repair” executive order from this summer, have been stopped by the car lobby.
MORE: Telematics: Helpful Discount Tool or Invasion of Privacy?
Do we need the right to repair our cars?
Automakers say they are protecting consumers by barring access to data collected from their cars. But many believe the real reason to limit independent repairs is about money—the less fixing people can do themselves, the more reliant they are on manufacturers for repairs.
Repairs made at the dealership often cost more than the same work done at an independent shop. But because of all the high-tech gadgetry now needed to do the job, people are relying more and more on dealerships for even the most basic maintenance.
Car maintenance might be getting more expensive, but you can cut the cost of owning a vehicle by finding
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