Automakers Continue Efforts To Scuttle Popular Mass. 'Right To Repair' Law

Automakers Continue Efforts To Scuttle Popular Mass. 'Right To Repair' Law

2 years ago
Anonymous $dEyjbtEkMr

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20220118/07122248303/automakers-continue-efforts-to-scuttle-popular-mass-right-to-repair-law.shtml

In late 2020, Massachusetts lawmakers (with overwhelming public support) passed an expansion of the state's "right to repair" law. The original law was the first in the nation to be passed in 2013. The update dramatically improved it, requiring that as of this year, all new telematics-equipped vehicles be accessible via a standardized, transparent platform that allows owners and third-party repair shops to access vehicle data via a mobile device. The goal: reduce repair monopolies, and make it cheaper and easier to get your vehicle repaired.

Of course major auto manufacturers didn't like this, so they set about trying to demonize the law with false claims and a $26 million ad campaign, including one ad falsely claiming the expansion would help sexual predators. Once the law passed (again, with the overwhelming support of voters) automakers sued to stop it, which has delayed its implementation. That same coalition of automakers (GM, Ford, Honda, Hyundai) are pushing new legislation that would delay implementation even further -- to 2025: