A federal judge in Massachusetts on Tuesday cleared away challenges to a Massachusetts law designed to ensure that drivers can repair their own cars without going through automakers or their dealerships.
About Right to Repair Laws
The dispute centers on the enormous amount of data today’s cars collect on themselves.
Cars today are largely mobile computers. They collect constant data about their own performance — what the automotive industry calls “telematics.” Most cars store telematics data onboard, and some broadcast it back to automakers over internet connections. Telematics data can help diagnose mechanical and software problems.
Related: What Is Telematics?
That makes the data crucial to repairs. Automakers have taken steps to protect it, encrypting or encoding it so that independent repair shops can’t see it.
Several states have passed laws requiring automakers to make the data available to independent repair shops and owners who wish to make home repairs. These are known as “right-to-repair laws.”
Judge’s Decision Clears the Way in Massachusetts
Massachusetts voters passed one in a 2020 referendum.
The law, Boston.com explains, “Would make manufacturers create a platform through which vehicle owners could access their car’s telematics data for all vehicles beginning with model year 2022. Owners could then share their data with independent repair shops, rather than relying on dealerships.”
The federal government briefly objected, saying the move could leave cars at risk of hacking. However, the government dropped its objections in 2023 after studying the question and concluding that telematics systems are not at much risk to hackers.
Related: Cars of the Future Will Likely Be More Vulnerable to Hacking
That left just one objection — a group of automakers sued to stop the law.
A federal judge dismissed that lawsuit Tuesday. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, an auto industry trade group, may still appeal the judge’s ruling. The decision allows the law to go into immediate effect.
It comes just in time, as many 2022 cars are approaching the end of their warranty period.