HEADLINES Right to Repair Act a Moot Point for Some When the 1990 Clean Air Act required all vehicles built after
1994 to be equipped with onboard computers to monitor vehi- cle emissions, it also required automakers to provide non-dealer repair shops with the same service information as the dealers. Soon, the onboard computer began controlling every vital
part of a vehicle’s system, but repair shops were not being given the information needed from the OEMs to perform necessary maintenance on newer cars and trucks. With that came the in- troduction of the Right to Repair Act in 2001, which called for an end to the monopolization of the repair industry by OEMs and their related dealerships. Fast forward eight years, and the fight continues with the latest
legislation, the introduction of the Right to Repair Act of 2009. “With tight budgets for schools and in states in general, the abil-
ity to have school buses fully, conveniently and affordably repaired is an absolute necessity, especially with safety as a prime issue,” said Sandy Bass-Cors, executive director of the Coalition for Auto Repair Equality, which has been working to educate in the auto- mobile and related industries on the issue. “Te Right to Repair Act would allow the school mechanics to access the non-proprietary
repair information quickly for repairs.” But not all dealers heavily guard service code data so strin-
gently. IC Bus dealer Truck Sales & Service, Inc., in Norwalk, Ohio, works hard to provide the availability of tools and training to its customers, but this can still keep them from performing the work themselves. “Te customer simply does not have the funds,” said Rick
Harbour, a sales rep at the company’s Mansfield location. “Te schools in Ohio are extremely poor. Tey live from day to day when it comes to buying parts and service.” Dave Sluder, bus division director for North Carolina’s White’s
International Trucks, also shares the information with local dis- tricts and garages, but sees frequent service requests even after the warranty period ends. “Millions of dollars are spent upgrading and creating new
technologies for equipment and should be proprietary to OEMs, dealers, and customers of the product,” added Sluder. As of this writing, the most recent version of the Right to Re-
pair Act has been referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. ■
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