Automakers say they’ve settled the fight for the right to repair. Critics are not ready to make peace
Many repair shops, especially those that opt in and pay to be part of those certified networks, say they have no trouble finding the information they need to fix their vehicle, right away. even before a deal this week. Michael Bradshaw, vice president of K&M Collision in Hickory, North Carolina and vice president of the Association of Collision Repair Professionals, one of the groups that signed the new agreement, said his store pays money to keep up with 30 automakers’ certification programs, including Kia, General Motors, Bentley and Rivian.
In a way, Bradshaw agrees with right-to-repair advocates: This week’s deal doesn’t get him anything he doesn’t. “If data and repair information is available, we can always get it,” says Bradshaw. But he disagrees that it’s a problem that repairmen have to pay, sometimes very expensively, to get the tools, certifications and information that will enable them to repair cars.
Bradshaw thinks it makes sense for him to have to pay for the automakers’ certification programs, because developing the car’s technology—and the documentation needed to fix it—was at the expense of the automaker. Car production is a lot of money. He is willing to spend whatever is necessary for a safe and effective repair. “If it were a no-access situation, you would find that information would suffer,” he said, because automakers would have less incentive to devote resources to generating information. clear to the repairman. “Businesses that are having trouble paying for the data they need are the same ones that aren’t investing in training or equipment.”
Other fixers worry that without an industry-wide overhaul that forces automakers to standardize and expand their data, auto companies will find ways to limit access to information. repair news or push customers to their own dealer network to increase profits. They say that if car owners have clear and direct ownership of the data generated by their vehicles—no involvement of the automaker’s specialized tools or systems —they can use that data themselves to diagnose and repair cars, or authorize a repair shop of their choice. to do the job. “My fear, if no one offers some stronger guidance, is that I know that the car manufacturers are,” said Dwayne Myers, co-owner of Dynamic Automotive, an auto repair business. Auto will monetize automotive data in a way that we cannot access.” with several locations in Maryland.
“You don’t just have to think about the current situation, but also about what it will look like five or 10 years from now,” says Roberts, a right-to-repair advocate. “It’s easier to solve this problem now, in the early days.”
Perhaps by design, the new deal comes right before a listen to the right to fix by a subcommittee of the United States House of Representatives on intellectual property and the internet. A bipartisan group of representatives introduced bills on this topic.
The hearing follows a national controversy over a Massachusetts law passed by a 2020 ballot measure that has given state-owned car owners more control over the data generated by their cars. Automotive Innovation Alliance sue the state about the law, preventing lawmakers from enforcing it, and a judge has yet to decide the case. But last month, the Massachusetts attorney general announced that it would begin punishing automakers withholding data for failing to comply with the rule. A few days later, the US Department of Transportation warn car manufacturers of non-compliance with Massachusetts law, citing concerns that it would open up the means for hacking. The letter appears to contradict the Biden administration prior commitments on rights to repair matters.
Brian Weiss, a spokesman for the Union, declined to comment on the Massachusetts law, citing ongoing litigation. But how or whether the new deal will affect other countries’ right to repair policies is up to policymakers, he said. It commits signed trade groups to push for federal rules defining the right to correct and against state law, which could create a series of laws with varying obligations for self-employed people. or independent repairers. That echoes an agreement signed earlier this year by tractor manufacturer John Deere and a large agricultural trade corporationAdvocates say it has failed to provide farmers with explicit access to the tools and software needed to repair their farm equipment.
Myers, the independent repair company in Maryland, says that allowing customers to own their auto data today will first of all “give them the right to choose where they get their car repaired”. But he also has an eye on the future. “Ultimately, we will find out what the automakers are collecting,” he says — and why. He wants to establish car owners’ control of that information now, before they find out too late that the information is being used in a way they don’t like.
