About Care

'To protect the rights of consumers to diagnose, service, and repair motor vehicles in the United States, and for other purposes.’

U.S. Senate U.S. House
State Bills

Original Sponsor

Joe Barton, R-TX, Chairman, Committee on Energy and Commerce

About this Legislation

  • 6/17/2007 – Re-introduced in the U.S. House by Edolphus Towns D-NY-Brooklyn), as H.R. 2694, The Motor Vehicle Owners’ Right to Repair Act
  • 05/3/2005 – Re-introduced in U.S. House by Joe Barton, R-TX, as H.R. 2048, The Motor Vehicle Owners’ Right to Repair Act of 2005
  • 02/26/2004 – Introduced in the U.S. Senate by Lindsey Graham, R-SC, as S. 2128, The Motor Vehicle Owners’ Right to Repair Act
  • 7/15/2003 – Re-introduced in the U.S. House by Joe Barton, R-TX, as H.R.2735, The Motor Vehicle Owners’ Right to Repair Act

Motor Vehicle Owners' Right to Repair Act of 2007 - The Motor Vehicle Owners' Right to Repair Act, also known as The Right to Repair Act, requires a manufacturer of a motor vehicle sold or introduced into commerce in the United States to disclose to the vehicle owner or to a repair facility of the motor vehicle owner's choosing, the information necessary to diagnose, service, or repair the vehicle. Information included will cover safety alerts, recalls, service bulletins and the need for adjustments to maintain energy efficiency, among other information.

It sets forth protections for trade secrets.

It instructs the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that it may utilize all authority conferred on it by the Federal Trade Commission Act. It allows that the FTC may prescribe rules to implement this Act. It prohibits the FTC from prescribing rules that interfere with the authority of the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding motor vehicle emissions control diagnostic systems.
States that the violation of section 3 of this Act constitutes an unfair method of competition and an unfair or deceptive act or practice within the meaning of The Federal Trade Commission Act.

 

Motor vehicle owners must increasingly rely on expensive dealerships to unlock manufacturer security codes and to identify and repair problems.
New Standard May 25, 2006

PETE KISCHAK, the owner of S & J Service in Yonkers, was able to fix the Cadillac's pull problem, but he couldn't reset its internal electronics to turn off the light. His perspective on why: Despite the money he now spends to get repair information, the data he lacked on the car's lights is of the kind that the manufacturer makes available to its dealers only.
New York Times April 9. 2006

Despite the opposition from Democrats, the bill, H.R. 2048, passed the Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection Subcommittee on a party-line, 14-13 vote.
The Hill, June 6, 2006

Correspondent Sharon Alfonsi: John O’Connor has run his New Jersey repair shop for nearly 30 years. He could fix the AC, no problem, but he couldn’t get the dashboard warning light reset because he didn’t have the right code.
CBS Evening News January 21, 2005

"If the dealership is the only shop with the information and tools and software to repair vehicles, that's the only place you can go. More and more of the dealership's money comes from repairs than from selling the cars," said David Parde, president, Coalition for Auto Repair Equality.
Fleet Management January 26, 2006