As a result of Massachusetts state law H3757, also known as the “Right to Repair” law, car companies like Chevrolet have agreed to give independent auto shops and people who don’t work in the auto industry access to OEM repair tools and information. On the other hand, new cars can now do many electronic repairs and diagnostics over the air (OTA). Those shops still need help getting this telematics or the wireless connection. Massachusetts wants to make this kind of access required by law through Question One, the Data Access Law, which the state’s voters passed. The National Highway and Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) of the United States Federal Government has told automakers that they do not have to obey right now. Your right to have your car fixed is not a public right. Your car’s On-Board Diagnostics (OBD) and repair info must be available to shops that work on it independently. Federal law does not require your favourite small store to have these essential tools. Original equipment makers just decided to put the provisions of the Massachusetts Right to Repair law into effect in all 50 states. This means that your local repair shop has access to the exact Ford Integrated Diagnostic System (IDS), its Rotunda-branded Vehicle Communication Module (VCM) link, and other OEM-specific tools. This lets the independent shop do the same tests, repairs, and even PCM coding if a new one is needed. Even if they don’t need to do it quickly or cheaply, which is rarely the case, the shop will have these tools. Because no national law or rule says makers have to give these tools to customers, they can limit access to them at any time. The Massachusetts Data Access Law tries to fix the fact that these same businesses do not have to give them access to current telematics. Question One on the poll was about the law, and the people of Massachusetts voted overwhelmingly in favor of it, with 74.87 percent for it and only 25.03 percent against it. After that, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation (AAI), which includes General Motors, Toyota, Volkswagen, and other Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), filed a lawsuit against the new law. Since then, the rule hasn’t been enforced because Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey said she will only once the case in federal court is over. It was supposed to start on June 14, 2021. Massachusetts is about to put its data access law into effect. After the AAI’s request for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) was refused, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell said she would start putting the Act into effect. In its lawsuit, the AAI said that the Data Access Law will force automakers “to remove essential cybersecurity protections from their vehicles.” That TRO was turned down, but only if the Attorney General didn’t use the penalties in the Data Access Law retroactively and if the parties “agreed to let the Court know about any litigation that started after June 1.” The AAI is now challenging the NHTSA’s Data Access Law, which has a big supporter. The NHTSA Gives a Reply In a letter to manufacturers on Tuesday, Reuters says that the NHTSA noted that producers only have to follow federal safety rules, not Massachusetts law. In the letter, the NHTSA noted that the Data Access Law “could use such open access to remotely command vehicles to operate dangerously, including attacking multiple vehicles at the same time” and that “open access to vehicle manufacturers’ telematics offerings with the ability to send commands remotely allows for manipulation of systems on a vehicle, including safety-critical functions like steering, acceleration, or braking.” We asked Massachusetts’ attorney general, Andrea Joy Campbell, what she thought about the NHTSA letter and what information small businesses needed to include because they needed access to data. On the other hand, Reuters said that “consumers and independent repair shops deserve to know if they will get access to vehicle repair data in the way that the law says they should.” As of the time this was written, she hadn’t said anything.
