Automakers’ Opposition To Right-To-Repair Is Hypocritical, Say U.S. Senators

The Verge reports that a bipartisan group of U.S. senators has penned open letters to a list of automakers, calling them hypocritical for opposing right-to-repair laws while selling user data to insurance companies and other third parties. In addition to a letter to GM CEO Mary Barra, similar letters went out to the heads of Ford, Tesla, and the North American divisions of Honda, Hyundai, Subaru, Stellantis, Toyota, and Volkswagen. All are signed by three senators: Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), and Josh Hawley (R-MO).

“Right-to-repair laws support consumer choice and prevent automakers from using restrictive repair laws to their financial advantage,” the senators write. “It is clear that the motivation behind automotive companies’ avoidance of complying with right-to-repair laws is not due to a concern for consumer security or privacy, but instead a hypocritical, profit-driven reaction.”

The right-to-repair movement encompasses consumer electronics like phones and laptops as well as increasingly software-dependent vehicles like cars and farm equipment. Right-to-repair advocates encourage tech companies and automakers to make digital information available to the public, maintaining the status quo of allowing owners and independent shops to repair electronics and vehicles. When such information is kept proprietary, it effectively forces drivers to get their cars repaired at dealerships.

Legislative steps have been taken in some states in line with the right-to-repair movement. However, some automakers like the ones called out by this trio of senators have opposed such laws on a federal level on the grounds of cybersecurity. The senators claim cybersecurity concerns are “based on speculative future risks rather than facts.” The letter cites an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that found “no empirical evidence” to the claim that independent shops are more or less likely to compromise user data than authorized dealers.

“We’re pushing these automakers to stop ripping Americans off,” Warren said in a statement to The Verge. “Americans deserve the right to repair their cars wherever they choose, and independent repair shops deserve a chance to compete with these giants.”