Now that GM, Chrysler are gov't owned, will "Right to Repair Act" pass?
Back in the day, when a car wasn't running right, a good mechanic could drive it and listen to the engine to narrow down where the problem was. They could go in and adjust or replace the carburetor jets, choke, points or some other mechanical piece, and if they knew what they were doing get it running right. In high school, this blogger learned how to balance the Zenith side draft carbs of a Triumph TR7 with a screw driver and an hunk of garden hose.
Today it's a whole different story. With everything on a modern car controlled by microchips, the only way to be sure what is making that warning light come on is to plug in a diagnostic tool and read out the codes. The problem is that auto manufacturers prefer to keep the magic code decrypters to themselves. While claiming it is for security and safety reasons, the reality is more likely related to profit.
However, with a significant chunk of the equity in Chrysler and General Motors now in the hands of the U.S. Government, the chances of passing a bill that would force automakers to reveal all of the diagnostic code information finally seem plausible. Lobbyists have been pushing to get various so-called "Right to Repair Act" legislation pushed through for at least eight years, and now they figure they have the best chance yet. The current bill that's up for consideration includes provisions that would mandate that automakers offer not only the trouble codes, but also any special tooling that's required (at "nondiscriminatory" pricing) as well as proper training.
What do you think, is the "Right to Repair Act" something Congress should get behind? Have your say in 'Comments.'
[Source: Ward's Auto World | Image: Justin Sullivan/Getty]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Brian 1:34PM (10/13/2009)
Congress should BUT OUT of the auto business. Let GM and Chrysler fail, as the market decided they should. The market should pick winners and losers, not the government, and GM and Chrysler are losers.
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Matt 1:40PM (10/13/2009)
While you right, the problem is all the jobs that depend on the companies. It is easier and cheaper for the government to bail out said companies rather than pay unemployment insurance/welfare/foodstamps/medicare for the thousands of people that work there and create lame make-work projects to keep them off the streets. They're not supporting the company, they're preventing a larger problem. Unfortunately, it's probably just delaying the inevitable and costing billions in the interim.
Shiftright 1:53PM (10/13/2009)
Ideally, yes, thefree-market should prevail, but in this case the damage to the economy, and perhaps the country's long term financial security risks would be too great.
Aprime 3:03PM (10/13/2009)
Matt: that's assuming they all go to welfare.
Robert 3:59PM (10/13/2009)
Who cares? The article is about whether or not the government should mandate that car companies open up their diagnostic codes. That has nothing to do with the bailout beyond giving a bill a better chance of passing. No amount of bitching or hindsight is going to change the bailout. So, can we just stay on topic?
Ligor 4:34PM (10/13/2009)
oh shut up
by your logic they should have left all the banks they bailed out as well
in which case we would be in a civil war by now since everyone would have lost everything
the gov't needs to protect the people and this was one of those times that they had to step up to the plate and control the situation adn it began with president Bush puting out 700billion to the banks
Now I am sure there were mistakes and such but when you try to prevent a total meltdown of the US economy there is bound to be mistakes, yet even with those mistakes 1932 was avoided with good success.
naggs 5:41PM (10/13/2009)
this sounds like the govt undoing the damage the automakers have done since OBDII
all car guys should be amped about this, great news
some1 5:53PM (10/13/2009)
let the free market decide the auto's fate? one of the main reasons they fell apart was due to the banks falling apart, and no one was able to get credit. the banks fell apart due to bad gov regulation, and the banks traded debt on the market, which is part of the reason for the original depression.
sooo in the end, because banks were allowed to trade debt, and the gov looking the other way, this problem happened...
James 6:54PM (10/13/2009)
I hope the Right to Repair Act passes...it is OUR MONEY after all, the American Taxpayer's money who subsidizes all these bailouts left and right...
A shout-out to Audit the Fed as well!
mclrnmrcdz 10:24PM (10/13/2009)
Actually the banks failed because the government decided there weren't enough low income families in houses so they pushed sub prime loans out to people who couldn't afford to live in the homes the banks were "encouraged" to give loans in support of. Then the Fed Reserve dropped the interest rates on banks to encourage more of this. When officials began to get concerned about the status of the GSE's that now owned 50% of the mortgages in America, the same people who pushed for the legislation in the first plase (and benefited from the banks new success) pushed to block legislation to increase oversight.
The automakers crumbled because the government decided to push legislation to increase fuel efficiency (after the first gas shortage scare in the '70s) so to work around this American automakers began making SUV's and trucks which didn't have to adhere to the new legislation because they qualified as "light trucks." When gas was $1.20 Americans got in lines for giant suburbans and F350's but then global warming (now global cooling... might be something else tomorrow) and $4 gas came around people quit buying them, and sense the manufacturers put most of their eggs in that basket and rather neglected to produce a product in car form that we liked, so balancing the books became pretty tough. In addition, for the last twenty years US auto manufacturers have been spineless when it came to negotiating new contracts with the UAW which made their products more expensive to produce (leading to cheap construction materials) than most of the competition.
Now that we own GM and Chrysler, I'd say availability of the codes would be a pretty pathetic silver lining in a fairly bleak storm cloud... but it will probably be the only silver lining at all.
jrhmobile 1:35PM (10/13/2009)
I do believe Right To Repair acts are a good idea. It's not like premium independent repair shops aren't getting access to these codes anyway by "underground" means anyway. Providing a legal way to get analysis codes will bring the whole issue above board and give consumers -- as well as repair shops -- legitimate options for repairing late-model cars.
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mitchw 3:31PM (10/13/2009)
I recall that in the 80s, a company called Compaq recreated the BIOS that started up the IBM personal computer. This created all the PCs we now use, and that made Bill Gates look so smart because suddenly his DOS was made the controlling software. So let some silicon grease monkey figure out what the car codes mean, and market his own diagnostics.
Also, it would be an unfair advantage to FORD if their competitor lost the secrecy of its codes, due only to govt intervention.
jim 5:11PM (10/13/2009)
The codes are only part of it and the most significant ones (engine) are covered under OBDCII and are available. The issue is firmware updates and the ability to reset and clear faults in such mundane things as power window/lock control, security systems, the transmission. Often the access to these functions is proprietary and with out the proper protocols a technician can't see the code.
Right to Repair is a good idea, I hope that it is extended to include motorcycles.
ryan 1:36PM (10/13/2009)
i can see why they want it, i really do.
but do i have a right to repair my computer? or a right to repair my dishwasher for the same reasons? or my heater?
and those questions are serious questions, not me pointing out some loophole or whatever. do i SERIOUSLY have a RIGHT to that information/tooling, etc?
if I do, then sure, why not with the cars? otherwise, if not, then why would i? what's the difference between the maytag guy and the ford guy?
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Brian 1:39PM (10/13/2009)
Maytag isn't sucking off the government teat.
benzaholic 2:02PM (10/13/2009)
Computer BIOS beep codes are available on the interwebs for the home diagnostician.
Many business class servers have for years included a display to report trouble codes, and SNMP or custom tools will even let you monitor and review computer trouble codes remotely.
My Kenmore appliances have for years included one or two pieces of paper just behind a body panel that identifies all the parts for that model.
It's restraint of trade if the auto companies don't disclose the information, since it makes it awfully tough for an independent mechanic to properly diagnose issues if they can't access, decrypt, and interpret the codes.
This approach may have been vaguely defensible in the early years of computerized cars, since dealerships spend a good deal of money training their mechanics to work on recent year models, but do you really think the ambitious but inexperienced kid in the dealership service bay is better qualified to diagnose and repair your ten year old, and still heavily computerized, car than an independent who has been working on that model range since they were new?
At least they were forced to standardize to OBD II. If they disclose the means to get to the rest of the diagnostics that the car is tracking on itself, it could make it more financially justifiable to repair that old car rather than being forced to pay dealer repair rates. Then again, when your car reaches that age, the dealership would clearly prefer that you buy a new one from them.
Pass it, and include more requirements to standardize the data connector, which would make readers cheaper, since they would be able to spread their development costs across a larger potential sales market.
Stormwave0 7:31PM (10/13/2009)
Are you saying you shouldn't have the right to fix what you paid for and legally own? You have to give it to someone else if there's a problem? Sounds like you're sliding down a slippery slope to me. Oh look! The light bulb in your lamp went out. I guess your lamp is broken. Oh wait, you can't fix it - you have to turn it over to a certified repairman to do the job for you!
Du 1:39PM (10/13/2009)
I hope it passes just so I can buy a Tech II Tool for less than $3500.
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RITmusic2k 1:48PM (10/13/2009)
Hear Hear!
ForgedInternals 1:40PM (10/13/2009)
You can get OBD II scanners for about 60 at sears. Airbag, ABS, TPMS readers are another story. It's also worth noting that some OEMs use those stupid 'service soon' lights to rope you into the dealership (like my parent's Matrix) you can figure out the combo to reset those online.
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