The Biden administration to car companies: ignore the right-to-repair law, it's a safety...

[midian182]

A hot potato: If there's one area that's a real hot-button topic, it's the right-to-repair movement, especially in Massachusetts, where the Biden administration has told car manufacturers not to comply with a state law that allows independent repair shops and owners the ability to service and fix their own vehicles.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) wrote in a letter (via Vice) that it has significant safety concerns with a Massachusetts law titled Chapter 93K, aka the Data Access Law.

Signed by NHTSA assistant chief counsel Kerry Kolodziej, the letter is addressed to the chief counsel of 22 auto manufacturers, including Ford, GM, Hyundai, BMW, Kia, Toyota, and Honda. It states that the right-to-repair law conflicts with the Safety Act.

The NHTSA's main objection is with the Data Access Law allowing access to a vehicle's telematics, used to send commands wirelessly. The agency says this could allow manipulation of systems on a vehicle, including critical functions such as steering, acceleration, and braking, as well as equipment such as airbags and electronic stability control. It claims that a malicious actor in the US or abroad could utilize this access to hijack multiple vehicles concurrently, possibly causing crashes, injuries, or deaths.

Back in 2020, Massachusetts voters approved an amendment (by 75%) to a right-to-repair law passed in 2013 that required automakers to make parts and diagnostic tools available to independent auto shops and car owners. The amendment, which took into account the number of cars that require wireless diagnostic tools, allows vehicle owners and independent mechanics to access vehicle data for repairs by opening up telematics, starting with vehicle model year 2022.

Vehicle manufacturers protested the law and the Alliance for Automotive Innovation sued Massachusetts in 2021 to try and stop it. The NHTSA said in a testimony that it supported the car companies, and that the amendment could increase the risk of cybersecurity attacks and threaten public safety.

"Given the serious safety risks posed by the Data Access Law, taking action to open remote access to vehicles' telematics units in accordance with that law, which requires communication pathways to vehicle control systems, would conflict with your obligations under the [National Highway Traffic] Safety Act," Kolodziej wrote in the letter.

Vice notes that the Biden administration has repeatedly said it supports consumer rights such as the right to repair, while the FTC said it was unable to prove that allowing repair access to a vehicle made it less safe, a conclusion that cybersecurity experts agree with.

Update: The Massachusetts Right to Repair Coalition has released a statement in response to the NHTSA letter, calling it the latest stalling tactic by auto manufacturers.

On behalf of two million voters and thousands of independent auto repair shops across Massachusetts, we are outraged by the unsolicited, unwarranted, and counterproductive letter from NHTSA that conflicts with the Department of Justice's statement submitted two years ago in federal court stating that there was no federal preemption. NHTSA's letter is irresponsible, having been transmitted without any new evidence and after the conclusion of the federal trial, despite having been asked by the judge to participate in the court proceeding and declining. NHTSA's letter fails to acknowledge the evidence and testimony presented at the trial that demonstrated the viability and security of an open access platform. This is yet another delay tactic the manufacturers are using to thwart the will of their customers, Massachusetts voters who voted 75-25 in favor of their right to get their car repaired where they choose. The FTC, the Biden Administration, and many members of Congress have all come out in support of Right To Repair.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/99079-biden-administration-car-companies-ignore-right-repair-law.html

 

[VitalyT]

This will promote monopoly and price fixation. Biden's administration has either lost their mind, or likely didn't have it to begin with.

 

[Neatfeatguy]

As years go on and cars become more and more dependent on everything running through the CPU, it gets harder and harder for people to repair more and more things on a car. So it starts to become more and more inevitable to avoid taking your car to a certified dealer/mechanic.

20+ years ago my step-dad and I could tear down anything under the hood and fix them and get a car going again. The only thing we didn't play with was the electrical wiring - most we did with that was replacing any bad fuses or at least tracing to a relay that may have failed and fixed that, if possible.

Working on cars pre 2010 was pretty easy, but so much is regulated by the CPU on the car these days that it gets harder and harder to repair things and I for one thinks it sucks.

This particular situation just sounds like a way for the dealers to keep everything in house so they can charge what they want and that's pretty shady.

This will promote monopoly and price fixation. Biden's administration has either lost their mind, or likely didn't have it to begin with.

Well, if you see Biden trying to talk, you may be left to believe that he hasn't had all his marbles for a quite some time now.

 

[m4a4]

Yeah, I got this news yesterday from the main source

All I can say is I hope some heads will roll...

 

[wiyosaya]

Y'all might not like what I have to say, but I'm saying it anyway...

As years go on and cars become more and more dependent on everything running through the CPU, it gets harder and harder for people to repair more and more things on a car. So it starts to become more and more inevitable to avoid taking your car to a certified dealer/mechanic.

20+ years ago my step-dad and I could tear down anything under the hood and fix them and get a car going again. The only thing we didn't play with was the electrical wiring - most we did with that was replacing any bad fuses or at least tracing to a relay that may have failed and fixed that, if possible.

Working on cars pre 2010 was pretty easy, but so much is regulated by the CPU on the car these days that it gets harder and harder to repair things and I for one thinks it sucks.

This particular situation just sounds like a way for the dealers to keep everything in house so they can charge what they want and that's pretty shady.

So what's your solution? We deny technology and revert to stone knives and bearskins? Technology has its place whether it makes it easy for you to repair your vehicle or not. To quote Kosh from Babylon 5 "The avalanche has started; its too late for the pebbles to vote."

Well, if you see Biden trying to talk, you may be left to believe that he hasn't had all his marbles for a quite some time now.

This will promote monopoly and price fixation. Biden's administration has either lost their mind, or likely didn't have it to begin with.

As I see it, this would have happened regardless of administration. It comes from a lack of technical knowledge that is commonplace among politicians. The phrase "cyber security" is a phrase with which politicians are familiar, but have no idea what it means or what it entails. IMO, NHSTA should know better, but that is, apparently, too much to hope for.

Likewise, IMO, it is auto-manufacturers implementing insecure gateways in their vehicles that have enabled this. Unfortunately, no politician has any understanding of what that means and who is responsible for it, much less, that the fact that those insecure gateways are there means there's an avenue for them to be exploited by bad actors regardless of who has their hands on the technology to access them.

The worst gateway, as I see it, is wireless access to a vehicle's critical systems that should be secured - even if they are password protected. If it were a NHSTA requirement that you had to have a physical connection to those systems, that, alone, would eliminate most of the security risk. But Nooooooooooo, dumb-a$s manufacturers have to implement wireless OTA access to their systems in the name of convenience with security an absolutely distant afterthought if they even considered it in the first place, or worse yet, a profit motive of enabling "premium" paid features in their vehicles - in a manner similar to the lack of security manufacturers of IOT devices implement. With physical access necessary, manufacturers could sell a diagnostic access device to anyone and have a significantly reduced possibility of a malicious actor gaining unauthorized access to a vehicle's critical systems. Think those recent security risks revealed in Intel/AMD processors that can only be exploited by having direct, physical access to the computer using them.

IMO, there's plenty of blame to spread around here and laying all of it on one specific entity is to entirely avoid the point and to take the same unknowledgeable viewpoint as the politicians have.

 

[p51d007]

What's the issue?
In a few short years, you WILL OWN nothing, and love it (according to the world economic forum).

 

[paul1122]

"What's the issue?
In a few short years, you WILL OWN nothing, and love it (according to the world economic forum)."

I have no problem with owning nothing, it's the liking it part I can't stand.
Thank you, Bob Hope.

 

[pcnthuziast]

Joe needs his AI routines updated.

#weekendatbidens

 

[3volv3d]

Y'all might not like what I have to say, but I'm saying it anyway...

So what's your solution? We deny technology and revert to stone knives and bearskins? Technology has its place whether it makes it easy for you to repair your vehicle or not. To quote Kosh from Babylon 5 "The avalanche has started; its too late for the pebbles to vote."




As I see it, this would have happened regardless of administration. It comes from a lack of technical knowledge that is commonplace among politicians. The phrase "cyber security" is a phrase with which politicians are familiar, but have no idea what it means or what it entails. IMO, NHSTA should know better, but that is, apparently, too much to hope for.

Likewise, IMO, it is auto-manufacturers implementing insecure gateways in their vehicles that have enabled this. Unfortunately, no politician has any understanding of what that means and who is responsible for it, much less, that the fact that those insecure gateways are there means there's an avenue for them to be exploited by bad actors regardless of who has their hands on the technology to access them.

The worst gateway, as I see it, is wireless access to a vehicle's critical systems that should be secured - even if they are password protected. If it were a NHSTA requirement that you had to have a physical connection to those systems, that, alone, would eliminate most of the security risk. But Nooooooooooo, dumb-a$s manufacturers have to implement wireless OTA access to their systems in the name of convenience with security an absolutely distant afterthought if they even considered it in the first place, or worse yet, a profit motive of enabling "premium" paid features in their vehicles - in a manner similar to the lack of security manufacturers of IOT devices implement. With physical access necessary, manufacturers could sell a diagnostic access device to anyone and have a significantly reduced possibility of a malicious actor gaining unauthorized access to a vehicle's critical systems. Think those recent security risks revealed in Intel/AMD processors that can only be exploited by having direct, physical access to the computer using them.

IMO, there's plenty of blame to spread around here and laying all of it on one specific entity is to entirely avoid the point and to take the same unknowledgeable viewpoint as the politicians have.

I saw an article hop on a similiar idea as you, everyone should be looking at cyber security as one of the forefront issues of their business, albeit an app, or their data in-house.

I get your point that technology and anything moves forward, well time does to be fair, technology isn't moving forward and that is the problem. OR it is that the technology, has no place in our society, if said tech means, we don't have a future.

But alas then you really need to crunch some numbers, and you need to work out your idea population per island, compared to resources, space that needs to be divided into, housing, industrial, roads, and design a proper infrustructure to make it work properly.

You are talking about continuously living the way we are heading which will end up with us, dead. basically. Most jobs cause so much pollution, the people that drive their in rush hour every day. the crap they make, the materials in landfill, all so you could buy some crap that ends up in landfill.

I said in another post, russia / china not commies, and america / uk and the likes, are not democtratic places. They are both capitalistic with *****s at the top keeping the money, an invention by man, to barter for goods, where greed has destroyed its value and worth.

Thing is as much as I am moaning, I know it doesnt change anything, and I know your post is more accurate of how things will go, because people are dumb, and think that society is a great thing, and not a social construct to make us think we have freedom and choice, when we don't because if we did, I would like to think people would want to live a free life, and get rid of the stuff thats choking us out.

So, fudge it, I am starting a cult, lets do this people, lets bring hydrogen trains to the people.

 

[dmatheson]

I call bullshit on the NHTSA. Instead of them requiring the car companies to put in mechanical failsafes, they're just restricting access to a degree that does very little good for security and gives the manufacturer of the hardware that you bought a monopoly that hurts good actors. Let me give you an example, my parents bought an $80,000 ev Jaguar (best rated ev that year) a couple of years ago. It has a small auxiliary battery upon which there is no backup...a single point catastrophic failure, and if it fails, the car locks up and you can't even put it in neutral to push it off the road without reading the manual for a hard to get to switch which is totally what you want to do if you're in the middle of a busy road. This failure gave them no warning and put them in extreme danger. At the very least, there should be a mechanical failover to safety functions...like steering, and putting a car in neutral.

 

[Burty117]

So what's your solution? We deny technology and revert to stone knives and bearskins?

No, Technology actually makes repairing your car easier, not harder. All this is about is forcing servicing directly with the manufacturers and kicking out any chance of independent shops or simply your average joe from doing anything with the car.

Have you seen Modern day electric cars? There's not much to them, It's simply the software behind them is being locked up so us normies can't plug a laptop in and it tell us what's wrong.

It's all a farse, If our governments were in anyway trying to help it's citizens, it would force all car manufacturers to use a common software interface for diagnostics and explicitly allow independent workshops.

Weirdly, the EU forced USB-C on all electronics to save waste and to stop the crap corporations pull, yet they won't go after car manufacturers making cars impossible to diagnose.

 

[Tantor]

It's all a farse, If our governments were in anyway trying to help it's citizens, it would force all car manufacturers to use a common software interface for diagnostics and explicitly allow independent workshops.

Very true, and I would force the manufacturers to go much further. Look at the Volkswagen beetle. It was created by direct order of Hitler. He wanted all Germans to be able to buy a good car. A 'people's car' that incorporated the best technology of the time. It had to be simple, inexpensive, and super reliable. German industry responded and developed the VW beetle. The technology was amazing for the 1930's. Aluminum engine, roller bearing crank, overhead valve, fully independent suspension, unibody with subframes, etc. It was so good that they were still making them up til the early 2000's.

That's what's needed with EVs. The government needs to issue a mandate to manufacturers. Considering the government has heavily subsidized EV, they have every right to demand something back that benefits the people.

I want to see dirt cheap EVs that are easy to work on and tinker with. You should be able to buy EV motors at Harbor Freight for $99 in a crate.

But we'll never see any of this. EVs are being mandated precisely in order to restrict automobile ownership.

 

[bandit8623]

What a joke. biden can barely talk .. you think he knows how computers work?? a car has a pc inside of it. if diagnostics fail on that pc then it should be user replaceable. not have to take it in to a dealer to reprogram it. the car industry has been smacking us for years...

 

[scavengerspc]

I'm not in agreement with this but considering all of Biden's successes, why not wait and see how this plays out?
He has not been so successful by accident.

The internets is already flooded with "fixes" for highly technical problems that are just for views and clicks, and that end up creating even more problems that the consumer can't fix. Then that is followed up buy a flood of tears when they find out what it will cost to fix their mistakes.

Cars today can't be fixed with a craftsman tool box and a can of dip.

not have to take it in to a dealer to reprogram it. the car industry has been smacking us for years...

We could all do what my daughter has done. Her daily driver is a 1966 Olds Toronado and the only changes I made to it was a switch to HEI ignition, disk brakes all around, and MSD fuel injection.

EDIT: There is a contributor at Youtube called "just rolled in". If anyone hasn't seen it, I myself think it would be a good idea to check it out. The things people do to "fix" their cars is absolutely pitiful, and I shudder to think what will happen with vehicles from the recent years as they go out of warranty.

 

[mailpup]

Keep in mind that, as Burty117 mentioned, the right-to-repair law doesn't just apply to DIYers. It applies to countless independent repair shops. It enables the shops to have access to factory repair information and software so that consumers have the choice of taking their vehicles to shops other than the dealer.

 

[toooooot]

If your car ran out of warranty, you could flush everything you might have saved. You save a lot of money if you can repair your car, especially when it is a single fuse or a headlight.

 

[toooooot]

What's the issue?
In a few short years, you WILL OWN nothing, and love it (according to the world economic forum).

The saddest thing I foresee is that it will make owning and maintaining a car impossible for those who are not in the middle income category or higher.
And listening to people who say we have too many cars, they are perfectly fine with this.

 

[Alfatawi Mendel]

Follow the money....

 

[Alfatawi Mendel]

No, Technology actually makes repairing your car easier, not harder. All this is about is forcing servicing directly with the manufacturers and kicking out any chance of independent shops or simply your average joe from doing anything with the car.

Have you seen Modern day electric cars? There's not much to them, It's simply the software behind them is being locked up so us normies can't plug a laptop in and it tell us what's wrong.

It's all a farse, If our governments were in anyway trying to help it's citizens, it would force all car manufacturers to use a common software interface for diagnostics and explicitly allow independent workshops.

Weirdly, the EU forced USB-C on all electronics to save waste and to stop the crap corporations pull, yet they won't go after car manufacturers making cars impossible to diagnose.

Did you think the EU was set up to benefit the consumer? It is an organisation formed purely for the benefit of corporations. The top dogs in the EU aren't elected. They're appointed.

 

[Marco Mint]

Yeah, but they live in the land of the free, etc etc...
Free to take brown envelopes stuffed with cash for favours. Honestly, the place is a joke. Wasn't Pelosi and hubby using inside knowledge to benefit themselves too? Wakey wakey, people!

 

[PEnnn]

Well, if you see Biden trying to talk, you may be left to believe that he hasn't had all his marbles for a quite some time now.

Unlike that 2x indicted, unhinged orange buffoon who talks like a real genius, right??

 

[ferrellsl]

Not sure why anyone is surprised by the Criminal in Chief's attitude towards the law.

 

[scavengerspc]

Not sure why anyone is surprised by the Criminal in Chief's attitude towards the law.

?? tRUMP isn't the President any longer! Sheesh!!

 

[Koguma]

"The FTC, the Biden Administration, and many members of Congress have all come out in support of Right To Repair."

The title is wrong. Seems to be completely by the NHTSA. In fact, the AAIA should ask the judge to hold Kerry in contempt of court.

 

[JCChua]

**** these politicians for suppressing our Right to Repair Law and Repair Options as well. Normally, I don't get in the way of politics but I will make an exception in this case. These politicians who are outright slaves of vehicle manufacturers and serve their greed for profits must be kicked out immediately from the U.S Government.