The automaker-backed group that engaged in a years-long lawsuit against Massachusetts’ Right to Repair law has now recommended legislation to the U.S. Congress advocating for the right while protecting original equipment manufacturer (OEM) procedure.
Right to Repair laws require automakers to give independent repair facilities, including auto glass businesses, the same information and tools they’d give their authorized repair facilities. Auto glass technicians need access to these when performing windshield-mounted camera recalibrations after a replacement.
Auto glass technicians need access to a vehicle’s diagnostic information when recalibrating a windshield-mounted camera. Here, Alberto Feliciano of That Recal Guy competes at Auto Glass Week™ 2024.
On February 18, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation joined the Automotive Service Association (ASA) and the Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) to propose the Safety as First Emphasis (SAFE) Repair Act. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation is an advocacy group primarily made up of automakers, while ASA and SCRS represent various facets of the collision repair industry.
The groups wrote a joint letter to members of Congress suggesting the SAFE Repair Act as an alternative to the Right to Equitable and Professional Auto Industry Repair Act (REPAIR) Act already under consideration. They claim the REPAIR Act doesn’t recognize key points.
“Despite mandating access to tools, data and information, the REPAIR Act is silent on a consumer’s right to ensure those tools or information are utilized for the specific purpose of restoring that vehicle’s safety systems and structure to full functionality,” the letter says. “In fact, safety was never addressed as a priority of the REPAIR Act.”
The bill must acknowledge that consumers already have access to the necessary information and don’t need laws protecting the right, according to the letter. The groups argue that automakers already promised to provide the information needed for diagnostics and repairs in a 2014 memorandum of understanding and a 2023 Automotive Data Sharing Commitment.
Massachusetts voters passed the state’s Right to Repair law in 2020.
The letter says the SAFE Repair Act would affirm vehicle data access, allow consumers to choose where and when to get their vehicle repaired, protect consumers’ choice of non-OEM parts and require the disclosure of previous repairs on used vehicles.
The act would also protect automaker interests. The letter says it would “[guarantee] that repairs are performed in accordance with manufacturer-produced repair procedures to restore vehicle safety systems and structural integrity” and “[support] periodic safety inspection and post-collision inspection programs to safeguard against unsafe or improper repairs.”
Despite proposing the SAFE Repair Act, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation has historically opposed state and federal laws protecting the Right to Repair.
In addition to fighting the Massachusetts law, the group sent a letter to 28 state attorney generals in April of 2023 stating that a federal law protecting the Right to Repair wasn’t necessary.
The Alliance for Automotive Innovation opposed the Massachusetts legislation when it was introduced in 2013 and filed a lawsuit against it when the law was passed in 2020. A federal judge ended the suit on February 11, upholding the law.
