'Right To Repair' Cruises With Voters, But Could Hit Speed Bump

BOSTON, MA — Massachusetts voter overwhelmingly approved Question 1 Tuesday, expanding the state's Motor Vehicle Owners' Right to Repair law to give drivers and independent mechanics access to wireless vehicle data.

Despite its popularity among voters, critics say the measure could be difficult to implement, as it takes a simplistic approach to what will likely be a nationwide conversation over the future of data in the auto industry.

Bryan Reimer, a research scientist at the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics, believes the question is too vague to be effective, providing little technical direction and not enough time for car companies to develop a standardized system.

The law will require manufacturers to equip vehicles sold in Massachusetts with an open access data platform, starting with model year 2022. Vehicle owners will be able to access mechanical data through a mobile app and authorize independent repair shops to retrieve data from, and send commands to, the car for repair, maintenance and diagnostic testing.

But Reimer says the measure leaves open questions of liability over a car's software, as vehicles move from mechanical to electronic systems, and the extent to which independent mechanics can program their own solutions into vehicles.

"This is so ill-defined in the ballot initiative, it's hard to understand the complete ramifications," Reimer said. "Sending commands for diagnosis and commands, while updating software for the vehicle, could very well fall under the auspices of what they're asking for."

The measure updates Right to Repair to include access to telematics, systems that collect and wirelessly transmit mechanical data to a remote server. Auto manufacturers have fought to control access to telematics, successfully keeping it out of an earlier law that was passed in Massachusetts in 2013.

Reimer said expanding access to telematics could make information about the vehicle and driver open to hacking, echoing an argument from auto manufacturers that supporters of the ballot question described as "fear-mongering." Such an attack, while unlikely, could be catastrophic.

"Mass pandemonium of hundreds of cars stopping on highways," Reimer said.

Proponents of the ballot initiative say it's not that complicated. The responsibility of vehicle protection would still fall on manufacturers, who ostensibly are continually working to better their cybersecurity measures.

It also does not prevent car companies from building new protections for their vehicles, Aaron Lowe, senior vice president of Government Affairs at the Auto Care Association, a nonprofit trade organization, said.

"We're not talking about shops making their own programs to download into the vehicles," he said. "This only allows it to be done wirelessly. Manufacturers have to build protections to make sure over the air programming is done safely."

Supporters say legislation needs to keep up with developing technology. Massachusetts voters agreed; the race was called with nearly 75 percent of votes in favor, but it was decided well before that. The Massachusetts Right to Repair Coalition declared a "resounding victory" with just 13 percent of votes counted, and the measure cruised at three-quarters support as more districts reported on Election Night.

"It's like your headphones. Five years ago, your headphones plugged into a headphone jack," Tommy Hickey, director of the Right to Repair Coalition, said. "Now up to 90 percent of new cars have these telematics capabilities."

There are 1,600 independent repair shops and 40,000 mechanics in Massachusetts. Hickey said the measure was "essential" to help them remain competitive, while improving the consumer experience. Drivers will have greater choice in where they get their car repaired, and mechanics will have the tools, parts and information available beforehand to make repairs more quickly.

Michelin, for example, is developing an app that allows it to track and alert drivers to low tire pressure on their cars, information that they could then transmit to a mechanic of their choosing, Lowe said. The idea is the shop would be ready to make the repair by the time the car is brought in.

"There's a lot of great things that can happen for consumers, but it's all predicated on whether they have access to vehicle data," Lowe said.

The onus is now on the manufacturers to implement a standardized platform to access the data. And they opened up their wallets to make sure they wouldn't have to: the Coalition for Safe and Secure Data, which opposed the ballot question, raised $26.5 million. The group was largely backed by dealerships and manufacturers who feared business could take a hit if the measure passed.

The Right to Repair Coalition pitted the issue as a David versus Goliath battle against the auto giants. Only David brought a rifle instead of a slingshot, raising $24.4 million and helping make the ballot question the most expensive in Massachusetts history. The lion's share of the group's funding came from repair chains like Advance Auto Parts and AutoZone, as it took less than $5,000 from inside Massachusetts, The Boston Globe reported.

Advocates hope the question's passage in Massachusetts leads to telematics becoming a national issue, and if it does, it will likely be a pricey one. The end goal is to get it in front of Congress next year.

Lowe said the technology is already there; it's just a matter of whether car companies want to play ball.

"The question will be will the manufacturers work with us or fight this," Lowe said.