Automakers sue Maine to block repair data law

On Friday, January 31, a national automakers association filed a lawsuit in a U.S. District Court against the state of Maine over its automotive Right to Repair law. The lawsuit alleges that manufacturers “have no means of complying” with the state’s law, which was supposed to take effect in January 2024 and took full effect this January.

Car owners have taken their vehicles to independent mechanics since the first cars rolled onto the streets in the late 19th century. But over the decades, as automakers have added software, digital electronics and wireless connections into their cars, those advances have started impeding mechanics’ ability to repair them. According to Forbes, modern cars often rely on proprietary systems for diagnosing issues. In effect, by computerizing newer cars and restricting access to the diagnostic data the vehicles collect and transmit wirelessly, manufacturers often block independent repair professionals from servicing these cars. Repair businesses then need to pay costly fees and subscriptions or buy prohibitively expensive equipment to do their jobs.

In 2022, the Maine Right to Repair Coalition told the Portland Press Herald that “more than 90% of new cars are equipped to wirelessly transmit real-time diagnostic and repair information only to vehicle manufacturers.” That statistic almost parallels this one: The Auto Care Association found in 2024 that 84% of independent repair shops surveyed view “vehicle repair and maintenance data access” as the top issue for their business.

Maine’s Right to Repair law, the result of a victorious 2023 ballot question, was meant to fix this by requiring automobile manufacturers to “standardize on-board vehicle diagnostics and make access to vehicle systems available to owners and third-party independent shops for repairs.” A whopping 84.38% of Maine voters approved this ballot measure, making it clear that Mainers want the right to access their own vehicle data and get their car repaired wherever they choose.

What the Maine wireless car data law does

The ballot measure that voters approved mandates three things: manufacturers are required to share any repair data that is transmitted wirelessly; manufacturers must share vehicle data with consumers through a secure, “standardized platform” from which users can consent to give it to independent repairers of their choosing; and the state attorney general must designate an “independent entity” to ensure compliance and oversee access.

The ballot measure became law in January 2024. However, the wording of the law gave manufacturers an additional year to comply with the requirement to share wirelessly transmitted vehicle data through a standardized platform.

Since the Automotive Right to Repair law took effect, opponents have tried to weaken it. First, lawmakers introduced a bill to remove the part of the law requiring the creation of a standardized platform for accessing the data necessary to repair our cars. This bill passed the state House of Representatives on April 9, 2024, but the state Senate rejected it six days later. 

On April 16, 2024, both legislative chambers and the governor passed a resolution calling for the state attorney general to create an Automotive Right to Repair Working Group. This group was charged with developing recommendations for how the “independent entity” should enforce compliance and maintain standards of access. The group has until February 28, 2025, to submit its recommendations to the legislature.

As of January 5, manufacturers must now make vehicle data available to owners. Some, such as Seyfarth Shaw LLC, interpret the law to require manufacturers to abide by standards set by the independent entity which does not yet exist. This forms part of the basis of the automakers’ lawsuit.

What are the grounds of this lawsuit?

The automakers’ lawsuit claims that without the existence of the “independent entity” to administer guidelines, fining them for a lack of compliance violates due process: They can’t follow standards that haven’t been written yet, by an “independent entity” that hasn’t yet been formed. The working group’s forthcoming recommendations for this entity are expected on February 28. 

The association of automakers also alleges that because the “independent entity” has not created a “standardized platform,” they have no way to securely share vehicle data. They are asking the court to declare the law unenforceable until the independent entity has undertaken its obligations.

Advocates of the law assert that the intention of the law was to require manufacturers to create such a standardized platform, not for the state of Maine or the “independent entity” to do so. Tommy Hickey, director of the Maine Automotive Right to Repair committee, wrote in an opinion piece for the Portland Press Herald that “the law obligates the manufacturers to implement the platform — work they refuse to undertake so that they continue to bolster and maintain a monopoly of your information.”

The text of the Maine Citizen’s Guide to the Referendum Election of 2023 reads that the independent entity will “establish and administer access to vehicle generated data that is available through the on-board diagnostic system or that is transmitted by the standardized access platform…” This has created confusion as to who is responsible for actually developing the platform: manufacturers, or the yet-to-be-convened entity.

However, the summary of the ballot measure states that manufacturers must standardize “vehicle on-board diagnostic systems.” Though not a law in any sense yet, the working group has already recommended the law be amended to clarify this issue. It wrote in its most recent report, “…there was a unanimous consensus that the entity should not maintain, provide access to, or otherwise exercise control over vehicle data. Rather, all vehicle data should be directly accessible by owners and…independent repair facilities…”

“We are not too surprised that the car manufacturers have chosen to file suit against what 84% of Mainers voted in favor of in order to bolster their profits and protect their monopoly of car owners repair information,” Tommy Hickey wrote to PIRG in an email. “The law is clear, the manufacturers must equip their vehicles with the capability to get car owners their own repair information, just as they collect themselves, and yet they choose to tie it up in court [rather] than to do so.”

We at PIRG believe that people should be able to fix their own property. Excessive restrictions on repair parts, tools, information, and diagnostics can gut independent repair and leave consumers with higher prices, longer wait times and broken, unfixable products. 

Moreover, we should have control over the data generated by the devices we own. If car companies can collect and store your vehicle data — and are even selling it to data brokers — they should give you any data that can help you fix your car, too.