Do You Have the Right to Repair?

[killerglass]

Thought this may be of interest to everyone who does or wants to work on their on vehicle.

This is from a motorcycle club however pertains to Cars






MRF E-MAIL NEWS Motorcycle Riders Foundation
236 Massachusetts Ave. NE
Suite 510
Washington, DC 20002-4980
202-546-0983 (voice)
202-546-0986 (fax)
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Jeff Hennie, MRF Vice-President of Government Relations
jeff @ mrf.org (e-mail)

Do You Have the Right to Repair?

We all know that we have certain inalienable rights such as life,
liberty
and the pursuit of happiness. We also have the right to remain silent
and
the right to an attorney. What we don't have is the guaranteed right
to
repair our own vehicles.

That's right, the way it is right now, vehicle manufacturers only have
to
make a very small percentage of the large and growing number of
diagnostic
tools, training and codes available to the general public. The
original
equipment manufacturers (OEMs) must make all information available to
everybody only as it pertains to emissions. So that leaves you at the
mercy of authorized dealerships exclusively if you need work on your
antilock brake systems, some fuel injection systems, security systems
and
any other electronic systems on your car or bike. The Motorcycle
Riders
Foundation (MRF) has been working on this issue for a couple of years.

This is a case of the legislative process catching up with itself.
Congress mandated that by 1996 all vehicles built for sale in this
country
must have a universal on board diagnostic (OBD) plug to harmonize the
industry. When Congress did that they gave all the power to the OEMs,
leaving the aftermarket and shade tree mechanics to catch as catch can.
An OBD plug is the interface mechanics use to plug a computer into the
vehicle in order to rapidly determine what is wrong with the vehicle.
Now
OEMs get to design the tools and software specific to each vehicle and
can
then decide who can have access to the diagnostic codes, software and
tools.

Now the OEMs refuse to make some of the necessary diagnostic
information
available outside of the dealer network. This forces those trying to
make
a living in the aftermarket to turn away business and also shuts out
the
consumer who wants to do his or her own diagnosing.

The last Congress introduced HR 2048 which would level the playing
field
here. That bill made it through committee but never to the floor for a
vote. Legislation has not been reintroduced yet this year, but it is
close.

This week in Washington the coalition of organizations supporting this
proposed legislation held a fly-in, which is really just a fancy term
for
a lobby week. The fly-in brought over 400 individuals to DC to meet
with
legislators in both bodies and voice their support for the proposed
measure. A wide range of groups in support of this proposed
legislation
includes the automotive aftermarket, consumer electronics groups,
retail
groups and even the 60+ (a senior American advocacy group).

Obviously the opposition comes from the dealers and the manufacturers,
as
they claim that they have intellectual property rights and should not
have
to expose their proprietary information. No one wants more American
jobs
lost, but as Americans we should have the right to service and maintain
our vehicles in the manner we see fit – be that at the dealership or
in
the driveway.

The legislation that has been drafted and is being reviewed by
potential
sponsors in the House and Senate, which means it should be reintroduced
and assigned a bill number soon. Of course, when that happens the MRF
will make you aware of the necessary information so you can contact
your
legislators about this issue.

Keep your fists in the wind . . . Jeff Hennie


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[Stu_Gotti]

Wow! Purty good reading!

[tCMetaLFReaK]

Thats really interesting. I had no idea it ran that deep.

[killerglass]

All screwing around aside this is a really big deal that will prevent us from working on or modifying our rides.
With the right tools we would ba able to modify & still keep them in full compliance by properly adjusting them. Without this we at the dealers mercy.

Trust me I know a lot about this from the manufacturers standpoint. Get involved, call your local politician and vote the right way. Let your voice be herd.

:bash:

[jwaj2002]

wow... this is something that everyone needs to know

[Voltage]

This is one of those things that I didn't really think about until it was brought forward. It IS a ever growing problem, and it seems like manufacturers are going to take it inch by inch until we are unable to do anything to our vehicles.

[jwaj2002]

we pretty much aren't able to do much to our vehicles now, with the way warranties are these days, and your average person can't work on a modern car with all the computerized junk in them

[um_lunchbox]

Not to defend the industry here, but here is my take ... the technology used to build these vehicles is getting more intricate and more complicated. Therefore the tools used to diagnose them are too. They are not preventing you from working on your car, just forcing you to learn more about them. If you were that adamant about working on your vehicle, you could easily take a tech course at a local college that will charge you, but also provide you with the proper training and tools.

All you need are more expensive tools and some training. I mean, you know how many lincoln mark VIII there are out there with disconnected air ride suspensions that are riding like radio flyers?

Dumb example I know, but you get the point, the cars are safer and better, just more complicated to modify. There will always be those few who dedicate themselves to hacking on board PC's in order to reconfigure fuel/air and other factors to make our cars perform better. It's best you respect them and pay them for their skills or become one yourself.

[1*BA*RStC07]

This is because they are literally trying to proteect you from yourselves and voiding your warranty. Cars are getting smart... extremely smart. One misplaced or broken wire or a short to ground somewhere can make 20 things go wrong on your car because things are being linked together. I have people come in all the time that can't figure out how to use their keys. I even had someone come in and say they wanted their spark plugs, wires, and points changed. (Hint hint: a lot of cars do not have wires anymore- it's called coil-on-plug, none have points). When Toyota makes a change in a car, every technician has to go to training to see how it works, what could go wrong, and how to fix it. Even if you have a 2007, your car is out of date. The technology is rapidly advancing, and people simply cannot keep up with it unless you are in the business.