REPAIR Act Advances In U.S. House
REPAIR Act Advances In U.S. House
We are one step closer to a federal law for car repair, but the climb is long. Also: UK court allows "batterygate" case against Apple to proceed. And: court document highlights Amazon's monopoly.
After weeks of delay as the U.S. House of Representatives struggled to appoint a Speaker, the House advanced a critical auto repair bill on Thursday. The Subcommittee on Innovation, Data and Commerce on Nov. 2 favorably reported HR 906, the REPAIR Act, a bipartisan bill aimed at preserving consumer choice and independent repair shops' access to vehicle diagnostic data, the Auto Care Association announced in a news release.
The law, known as the "Right to Equitable and Professional Auto Industry Repair Act" or the "REPAIR Act" is based on a 10 year old Massachusetts law that ensures that vehicle owners and independent auto repairers have access to the data, tools, and information they need to repair and maintain motor vehicles. Since 2014, automakers have recognized the terms of that state law nationally via a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed between major automakers and the automotive aftermarket repair industry.
Since then, the Massachusetts law was updated by voters in 2020 to give owners and independent repair shops access to wireless vehicle telematics data. However, rather than embrace that change, automakers challenged it in federal court alleging the state is preempting federal vehicle safety laws. The case has languished for more than three years, with no decision issued by the federal judge Douglas Woodlock.
The REPAIR Act would create a federal version of the Massachusetts law: prohibiting manufacturers from using technological or legal barriers to prevent access to vehicle-generated data needed for repair and maintenance and give owners and independent repair shops access to the same software, tools and parts provided to authorized repair providers at a fair cost.
The REPAIR Act received bi-partisan support at the hearing.
“When I buy a product, like a house or a stove, it belongs to me and when you buy a product, it belongs to you. But currently, when we buy vehicles, our options to repair and service our own property are diminishing,” warned Congressman Neal Dunn (FL-02) in the hearing.
Out of the frying pan…
If you were properly indoctrinated with Schoolhouse Rock’s I’m Just a Bill, you will know all bills in Congress begin in a committee. Committees can often be black holes where bills die before having been voted on by the entire legislature. The movement of the REPAIR Act into the markup phase means it has moved over yet another stumbling block in the journey to become a law. However, this also means that the bill could be subject to edits and adjustments by the committee, so hold the applause. Things are just getting started. The hoops that the bill will need to jump through before getting close to a floor vote are many. The box outlined in red is where in the process the bill sits, which means it has a long way to go before it helps anyone.
As the possibility of the bill becoming a law becomes more real, so too will the opposition toward it materialize. MOU’s have been are popping up to convince lawmakers that a law isn’t even necessary, while arguments about safety and cybersecurity continue to be major pillars of the opposition’s argument. And while opponents say that making vehicle data more available would harm consumers, the evidence continues to pile up that car companies do not protect the information and data of their customers to begin with.
The REPAIR Act hearing comes days before Maine is set to have its citizens vote directly on the issue of auto right to repair, which could add validity to the popular support for a nation-wide law, as it would become the second state in the U.S. to affirm its support for auto right to repair.
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