Right to Repair for the Next Generation of Cars Legislation Filed

BOSTON - Sept. 18, 2018 - PRLog -- By 2020, more than 90% of new cars will be equipped to transmit real-time diagnostic and repair information wirelessly to vehicle manufacturers, threatening the rights of Massachusetts car consumers to get their cars fixed at trusted independent repair shops.

Bills to update the Massachusetts Right to Repair law were filed in the Legislature this week by Senator Sal DiDomenico (D-Boston), Representative Paul McMurtry (D-Dedham), and Representative John Lawn (D-Watertown).  The legislation, "An Act to Enhance, Update, and Protect the 2013 Right to Repair Law and Consumer Rights," would further protect Massachusetts car owners' rights to choose where they buy their parts or have their cars repaired and not have to pay monopoly prices a the new car dealership.

"Massachusetts voters voted 86% in 2012 to require car companies to give access to repair information and diagnostics," said Barry Steinberg, owner of Direct Tire in Watertown.  "But now big auto is using the next generation of wireless technology to get around our law, shut out independent repair shops, and cost car owners more money. That's not what we voted for."

"Beacon Hill needs to update the law to protect car owners and trusted, local independent repair shops from being shut out by big auto makers," said Glen Wilder owner of Wilder Brothers Tire Pros in Scituate.

Steinberg and Wilder are members of the Massachusetts Right to Repair Coalition, a group of Massachusetts independent repair shops, local auto parts stores, consumers, and drivers interested in making sure car owners have access to all of the repair and diagnostic information on the vehicle they own.  In 2012, the Right to Repair Coalition helped pass the ballot initiative and subsequent law in the Legislature.

Despite the law guaranteeing access to independent repair shops, these businesses are increasingly facing the prospect of having limited or no access to diagnostic and repair information now that automakers are increasingly restricting access to this data through rapidly expanding wireless technologies in vehicles.  If independent repair shops can't get direct access to diagnostic and repair information from the car, then car owners have no choice but to be steered by vehicle manufacturers towards more expensive automaker authorized repair options.

For more details visit https://massrighttorepair.org