diagnosticssupplement2023 - 16

GOVERNANCE & LEGISLATION
you're a trucker in the middle of nowhere,
and the only shop around can't find the
root cause of an aftertreatment issue.
Data deprivation will have a dramatic
impact on a shop's lifespan.
" If you can't diagnose what's wrong
with the truck, then you're done, " Karon
surmised.
To keep up, independent shops must
buy various diagnostic tools and license
the OEM software. Stuart noted
that each location needs to license that
engine software, which he recalled once
was free. " If you've got 42 garages, you're
going to buy 42 [annual] subscriptions, "
he noted.
An issue is that all-makes shops might
not see enough business to justify the
cost. If they don't, that means they must
turn away customers. Either way, this
impacts fleets in need of service options.
" On the commercial side, there really
isn't a plethora of repair facilities, and
it's declining every year, " Karon said.
" Now these trucks are having to wait
longer and longer periods of time to get
the repairs. "
Karon, whose company also has 22
shop bays (and broke ground on a new
16-bay facility this year), said his customers
are selling off shop real estate and
outsourcing maintenance, putting more
pressure on remaining repair shops.
He acknowledged the dealers and
OEMs have a financial incentive to gatekeep
access, " but in practicality, these
people need to have their trucks fixed. "
Four to six days is the average repair wait
times, he said.
" We just don't have the people or the
space to repair them, " he said, " so Right
to Repair is very, very important for the
transportation industry. "
New legislation
In 2020, Massachusetts voters approved
a Right to Repair referendum to make
OEM telematics data available to all
shops via an interoperable and standardized
open-access platform across all of a
manufacturer's makes and models, including
heavy-duty vehicles.
" Specifically, the 2020 law extended
Right to Repair to address concerns the
industry has seen with onboard secure
vehicle gateways, lack of access for heavy
duty and motorcycle, and the coming
wave of telematics powered by autonomous
vehicles, EVs, and ADAS systems, "
explained Brian Herron, president and
16 Fleet Diagnostics * October 2023
CEO of Opus IVS, an aftermarket diagnostic
solution provider.
Three years later, the data law was still
being challenged. The lobbyist group
Alliance For Automotive Innovation
sued Massachusetts over the law, saying
an open data landscape would cause " irreparable
harm " to its members. Then in
June, NHTSA told the OEMs to resist the
new Right to Repair act.
Things cooled down in August, when
NHTSA approved the law with the caveat
that remote access remain short-range,
with Bluetooth being an acceptable communication
signal. The fight is far from
over, though, as aftermarket trade groups
have countered NHTSA's position.
" Once you buy something,
then you actually need to
own it. If you can't actually
repair it, then do you really
own it?
"
-Rep. Warren Davidson (OH-08),
co-sponsor of the REPAIR Act bill
(H.R.906)
Paul McCarthy, president and CEO of
MEMA Aftermarket Suppliers, stated to
Fleet Maintenance that:
" While we support NHTSA and the
Massachusetts Attorney General's 'goals
of consumer choice in repair facilities and
vehicle safety,' a short-range wireless protocol
is insufficient to provide a broad,
nation wide, level playing field. It also does
nothing to advance efforts to protect repairability
for heavy-duty vehicles.
" Furthermore, the letter from NHTSA
underscores the imperative for a federal
solution that covers ALL motor vehicles and
ensures both repair choice and enhanced
safety on our roads. Moreover, it emphasizes
the need for a cybersecure, technical
solution that prioritizes consumers and
fleets and is developed by and agreed on
by all stakeholders. "
Herron sees both sides, saying that
" shops may be missing the same level
of diagnostic access that dealers have
and be forced to find other ways to repair
these cars which can ultimately increase
costs and raise safety concerns, " while
he understands automakers' concerns
that access to their telematics may not
be secure.
" While each party line holds strong to
their position publicly, I know from the
many conversations I continue to have
around R2R that there are supporters
within automakers and the aftermarket
that see the good in a compromise, as
long as the aftermarket has the same access
as dealers, in the same ways dealers
do, " Herron said. " For me, that is what
Right to Repair is really all about. "
It seems now conflict mediation will
require government intervention.
R2R from sea to shining sea
" What we're fighting for now is federal
legislation to force the OEMs to [provide
access to data], " Karon said. " And the
OEMs are using this technological threat
situation to fight it. "
CVSN advocates for both state and
federal Right to Repair laws. MEMA
Aftermarket Suppliers is also a staunch
advocate for the REPAIR Act, which was
introduced in February by Rep. Neal
Dunn (FL-02). The bipartisan bill has 40
co-sponsors. One of the first three was
Rep. Warren Davidson (OH-08), who
owned a manufacturing plant in southern
Ohio that made OEM and aftermarket
oil filter parts.
Davidson, who holds a patent, noted
that while the OEMs have the right to protect
their intellectual property, " once you
buy something, then you actually need to
own it. If you can't actually repair it, then
do you really own it? "
The other issue is that with only one
service option, " you have no leverage on
price, you have no leverage on service, and
so you don't have the kind of responsiveness
that you need, " he explained. " We
can't copy that [IP] and launch a competing
product or anything, but we should be
able to diagnose it and repair it. "
Right to Repair advocates are gaining
an advantage in Massachusetts, but even
if and when federal legislation passes,
the OEMs will not go quietly.
" It's going to be a continual fight, step
by step, after the legislation is passed, "
Stuart theorized. " There's going to be
lawsuits...and I suspect that this thing
will go all the way to the Supreme Court,
because it affects commercial trade and
affects every commerce. I think the
OEMs are prepared to take this all as far
as they can. And who knows where to go
from there? " ❚
diagnosticssupplement2023

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