Dear Chie Ferrelli The Subaru SUV she bought in 2020 because it made her feel safe. So when it was time for her husband, Marc, to buy a new car of his own last summer, they headed back to the Subaru dealership near their home in southeastern Massachusetts. But there’s one problem that drives the couple crazy: Marc’s sedan won’t have access to the company’s telematics system and the app that comes with it. No remote-start engine during the icy New England winters; no emergency assistance; no automatic notification when tire pressure is low or oil change is needed. The worst part is that if Ferrellis lived just a mile away, in Rhode Island, they would have features. They bought a car. But thinking back, Marc said, if he had known about the problem before he walked into the dealership, he “would probably have gone with Toyota.”
Subaru disabled telematics and related features on new cars registered in Massachusetts last year as part of a controversy over a Correct vote measure to correct overwhelmingly approved by state voters in 2020. The bill, which went to court, would require automakers to provide auto owners and independent mechanics with multiple access more on data about the car’s internal systems.
But the “open data platform” envisioned under the law does not yet exist, and automakers have filed lawsuits to prevent the initiative from taking effect. So first Subaru and then Kia turned off the telematics in their newest cars in Massachusetts, much to the dismay of drivers like Ferrellis. “This is not to comply with the law — compliance with the law is not possible at this time — but to avoid breaking it,” Dominick Infante, a Subaru spokesman, wrote in a statement. Kia did not respond to a request for comment.
The dispute is the latest chapter in longstanding disagreements between the state and automakers over repair rights, or the ability of consumers to repair cars themselves or control who does it for them. In 2012, Massachusetts voters passed a similar ballot measure, requiring automakers to use non-exclusive built-in diagnostic ports on all vehicles for the first time.
A year later, the initiative took shape on the basis of a nationwide agreement. Auto manufacturers ensure that car owners and mechanics will have access to the same types of tools, software, and information that they provide to their franchised auto dealers. . As a result, anyone can buy a tool these days that plugs into a car’s port, accessing diagnostic codes that help them figure out what’s wrong. Mechanics can purchase tools and sign up for manuals to guide them through repairs.
So, for years, the right repair movement has propelled the auto industry to become the rare place where everything was exactly the way it was. Independent mechanics are still competitive: 70% of auto repairs happen at independent shops, according to the American trade association that represents them. Backyard tinkerers abound.
But the new vehicles are now computers on wheels, collecting an estimated 25 gigabytes of driving data per hour — the equivalent of five HD movies. Automakers say much of this information is not useful to them and is discarded. But some — the location of a vehicle, how specific parts are performing at a particular time — are anonymized and sent to manufacturers; Automakers say sensitive, personally identifiable information such as vehicle identifiers is processed, under strict confidentiality guidelines.
