Right to Repair Updates

A bi-partisan coalition of twenty-eight state attorneys general wrote to the Senate Commerce and the House Energy and Commerce Committees this week urging passage of federal repair access legislation.  The letter can be found here. This letter is a demonstration of the continued support for consumers’ rights to access to repair information.

Trouble for Tesla? Reuters Article on Repairability of Damaged EV Battery Packs finds that Tesla batteries in particular, with other OEMs are highlighted, are difficult to repair after a collision, leading to low-mileage vehicles being scrapped after a crash. Tesla facing two class action suits from customers claiming they’ve been forced to pay unfair prices for car repair and face unnecessarily long waits because of company’s anti-consumer practices. 

Tuesday, March 21 was National Agriculture Day. President Biden highlighted farm equipment right to repair in a proclamation. “We are working to secure the so-called “right to repair” so farmers can fix their own machinery and tractors, rather than being required to send them back to the manufacturer.”   

European Commission Releases Proposed Rules on Repair – This week, the European Commission released the “Rules Promoting the Repair of Goods.” The European Right to Repair Coalition was critical of the proposal, finding that it was a step forward but does not make “repairability an affordable reality.” The proposal does not address vehicles. 

In February, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety released a study on the repair of ADAS systems, the need for “Affordable and accessible centralized databases with repair and calibration specifications and instructions from the manufacturers would be a start to addressing industry-wide challenges.” MEMA has spoken with IIHS about the study.