LAS VEGAS — While current federal Right-to-Repair legislation has stalled, organizations like the Tire Industry Association (TIA) and the Automotive Care Association (ACA) said momentum is building, and passage of a law is as close as it has ever been.
“We need to amplify our voice — turn up the volume,” Bill Hanvey, president and CEO of the ACA, said during a Right-to-Repair summit hosted by TIA at Planet Hollywood Casino on Nov. 4.
Generally, right-to-repair legislation is about promoting fair competition and consumer choice by guaranteeing access to the information, tools and parts needed to make proper repairs of a product. In the automotive service industry, a key point of right-to-repair is accessing vehicle data.
“For those of you that may not think this is your fight, it's all of our fight,” Hanvey told a packed audience. “When one of your customers sends that car back to the dealership, you've lost them, because the confidence in that shop diminishes, and that is the prime opportunity that the dealerships are looking for, right?”
He said the ACA did a survey of 700 service shops and found that 50% of those shops reported up to five times a month they had to send a vehicle they were repairing back to the dealership, because “they can’t access the diagnostic information,” Hanvey said.
Many of these instances were simple things, like turning off an error code after the repair had been made.
ACA found that $3 billion is lost each year to diagnostic issues — problems that are a result of shops that can’t decipher error codes, often because they don’t have access to certain data.
“Repair shops and dealers will find themselves squeezed by a growing monopoly of OEMs, who will have exclusive control over repairing these increasingly complex vehicles,” Roy Littlefield, TIA vice president of government affairs, said during the event. “Consumers will face higher repair costs and fewer choices. Innovation will slow as smaller companies are forced out of the industry. Small businesses that form the backbone of our local economies will suffer, and ultimately the entire automotive ecosystem will be threatened.”
At both state and federal levels, right-to-repair has largely had bipartisan support. Proponents argue right-to-repair laws increase competition, allowing consumers faster service at a better price. And consumers' ability to hang on to products longer is ultimately good for the environment.
Opponents of legislation — mostly automakers and car dealerships — described the legislation as a "solution in search of a problem" that poses data security risks and infringes on intellectual property rights.
The most recent iteration of a federal bill, the Right to Equitable and Professional Auto Industry Repair (REPAIR) Act — H.R. 906 — died in committee, though it was given a shout-out by the Commerce committee chairwoman as legislation that should be pursued in the future.
H.R. 906 gained 56 bipartisan cosponsors. Hanvey noted that it was one of 16,000 bills to be considered by the House — 10,000 of which saw some sort of action (including H.R. 906). After passing out of the subcommittee onto the full Energy and Commerce committee, it was denied further consideration. No previous version of the bill made it so far.
The REPAIR Act would require motor-vehicle manufacturers to provide to a vehicle's owner access to data related to diagnostics, repair, service, wear and (re)calibration of parts and systems of the vehicle. It also states manufacturers "may not impair an owner's access to such vehicle-generated data or impair an aftermarket parts manufacturer from producing or offering compatible aftermarket parts," according to the text of the bill.
The bill also would mandate a "standardized access platform" for vehicle data. Outside of a recall or warranty work, manufacturers would not be able to dictate the use of a particular brand or manufacturer of parts, tools or equipment. The bill also sought to have the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issue standards for access, and that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) establish an advisory committee.
Littlefield said issues already are staring to arise across the country.
“We're seeing longer wait times, and we're seeing repair deserts in some parts of the country, where you have to go hours to find a place that can even fix your car,” he said.
Littlefield said that they already are preparing to push the bill in the new Congress, but also highlighted the importance of state legislation to push the issue.
Ultimately, the belief is that the confusion and complexity of automakers to comply with differing state-by-state laws will leverage them into accepting federal legislation — or action by the Federal Trade Commission, which could bypass legislation altogether with a solution but have been unwilling to do so.
“Make no mistake, while federal codification is the ultimate goal, we must continue to support state level efforts as steppingstones towards national progress,” Littlefield said. “States are laboratories of democracy, and their successes can help build momentum to broader reform.”
The summit highlighted right-to-repair legislation in Massachusetts and Maine. Hanvey noted the law in Massachusetts, which was passed in 2021 but has been held up in the courts since. He said they are trying to build a class-action lawsuit of shops deprived of data.
A similar Right to Repair law was passed in Maine.
“And we're actually a little bit further along in Maine, because now we're forming a governing body that would put down the mandates of how this law is going to be implemented,” Hanvey said.
At the TIA summit, Maryland Delegate Kevin Hornberger spoke about how he is helping to propel the issue. He’s both a car enthusiast and advocate through the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA), but as a state legislator, he said the greater importance is what independent auto repair shops mean to the future.
“It's a hands-on skill trade that our young people are passionate about — cars equal freedom,” he said.
He said that state-level grassroots efforts are important to encourage federal legislation.
“The way that we apply heat is at the state level, because the only thing scarier to the auto manufacturers about having a nationwide right to repair is having a patchwork of state laws that contradict each other, that have different limitations,” he said.
