U.S. lawmakers introduced new Right to Repair legislation this week that could make it easier for owners of modern-day vehicles to repair their vehicles themselves or get them repaired by a third-party mechanic.
U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, an Illinois Democrat, introduced a new bill this week that aims to ensure vehicle owners have access to the same repair and maintenance tools as OEM dealerships. Rush’s bill would also require automakers provide owners and third-party repair shops with access to a vehicle’s onboard diagnostic system and data, which is often needed to perform major repairs on current-day vehicles.
Rush said this week that his legislation would “end manufacturers’ monopoly on vehicle repair and maintenance and allow Americans the freedom to choose where to repair their vehicles.” President Joe Biden has sounded the alarm bells over the issue of Right to Repair in the past, saying that in many cases, Americans “don’t have the freedom to choose how or where to repair,” their smartphones, automobiles, tractors and other products. The Biden Admin also called automaker’s monopoly over repairs an “unfair, anticompetitive,” restriction.
Manufacturers of farm equipment, automobiles and consumer electronics have previously taken a stance against proposed Right to Repair legislation, saying providing consumers with access to diagnostic data could pose security risks. A group representing major automakers, including General Motors, Ford, Toyota and Volkswagen, among others, filed suit to block a Right to Repair measure that was overwhelmingly approved by voters in Massachusetts in 2020. The law would have required automakers to create an open data platform to store vehicle diagnostic data on by the 2022 model year, however automakers said the short timeline of the bill made it impossible to implement. The group also cited safety and security concerns with such a platform.
Two other separate Right to Repair bills were also introduced this week by U.S. Reps Mondaire Jones, a New York Democrat, and Victoria Spartz, an Indiana Republican.
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Comments
Biden is a coward and a corporate shill, he’s gonna do whatever maintains the status quo. Unfortunately, interest rates are gonna go up and lowercase gm is really gonna struggle to move the limited inventory they have.
Get out of here. Keep the negativity to yourself. I’m not enthused about Biden either, but providing statements based on pure emotion, and not factual evidence or citations is not needed or wanted.
Biden is a puppet who’s party profits on status quo and interest rates are going to go up…. both factual statements.
Unfortunately among certain segments of both the right and left, critical thinking is heresy. One must tow the line for your “team” regardless of the absurdity of the idea.
I’m with ya Sonic.
And personally I don’t think GM (or anyone) will have any issue selling limited inventory, demand is high and incentives are low. Interest rates might change that a little but there is still a bid need for vehicles.
And if you wanna talk GM or gm, look at it’s trademark, it’s still GM.
” not factual evidence” and commanding other commenters to “Get out of here” ? You must be a blind, deaf and dumb Bidiot-cultist or a troll for the DNC. That statement was clearly NOT based on pure emotion but on 13 Months of real-world experience with incredible, continuing screw-ups and total incompetency. Pull your head out of the sand or from whatever alternate Universe you inhabit and WISE UP ! You don’t own this comment board and have no place telling others what they can or cannot post.
So , we should hide and pretend reality doesn’t exist?
Record gas prices and sky high inflation are realities only ignorant fools ignore.
Keep drinking the Kool Aid and swallowing FAKE stats and numbers.
We/they should have elected a better Democrat , not a senile buffoon!
About time.
The corrupt practice of silencing 3rd party & diy repairs ends now.
I have serviced my GM vehicles since 1976 and my Dad’s since 1967. Any GM service manual is available at Helm, Inc a year after the model year, and I have purchased manuals for all our GM vehicles. So I am exercising the Right to Repair without any federal help. Now you can even get service information online, with how-to videos at YouTube.
Idk how I feel about this. I’ve always considered myself my own “right to repair”. The aftermarket is full of parts, and anything I couldn’t buy I am capable of fabricating. I’m worried just like the ACA, any move they take on this will just make it actually harder and more exspensive to fix. They’ll find a way to screw it up somehow. I know John Deer has lost a ton of sales because their crackdown on self repairs. Lots of sales moved to CaseIH/Kubota, which is the ultimate right to repair.
Other than software I’ve been able to keep servicing my own vehicles. Access to the software portion would make things more interesting. Just get the manual a year later and go at it if you’re so inclined. It would put the hurt to a lot of smaller shops if the right to work on your own vehicle isn’t allowed. The aftermarket would suffer as well. The whole picture folks.
Freedom to repair, do it yourself, screw it up and then take it to a certified auto technician to repair. LOL ALL LOVE
Only those who have the knowledge and training should be able to service correctly their cars. Even with foreign cars, I learned to read more and later service. So only the fools who tinker with cars will need a auto tech to repair what they broke or could not fix.
Caterpillar, Deere, Case, Cummins, Detroit Diesel, Komatsu, etc. all protect as proprietary their laptop and computer workstation (dealer use only) factory developed diagnostic and machine data performance settings. Even some dealer special service tools are proprietary. Also non dealer technicians are not allowed to attend factory service training schools and classes in the field or at the factory.
This keeps the dealer service revenues captive to their dealers. Most of the revenue stream for dealers is from service and parts sales.
Shut out the outside competition which is also willing and competitively capable. This a home run for factory authorized dealers.
Sherman Anti Trust Act anyone?
Dealers spend tens of thousands of dollars annually on trading and special tools in order to have access to the proprietary information. And many of the expensive special tools are never actually used, but dealers are still required to buy them. It’s highly doubtful independents would make these same investments, other than maybe large chains like pep boys. But if granted “right to repair” the independents should also be required to make these investments that dealers are required to.
Manufacturers require each dealership to invest tens of thousands of dollars in training and special tools each year in order to have access to the information required to do those repairs. If so-called “right to repair” becomes law it better allow the manufacturers do require the same investments in tools and training that they do of their dealers.