June 2, 2010—The Automotive Recyclers Association (ARA) is pressing Congress to pass the Motor Vehicle Owner’s Right to Repair Act after similar legislation went into effect in the European Union on Tuesday, according to an ARA press release_notes.
The EU rules require all automobile manufacturers to share more technical vehicle information with individual repair shops and parts distributors. Without this information consumers are limited and their choices, according to the report. The Right To Repair Act aims to make it the consumer’s choice on how and where a vehicle is repaired. The release of more information would make this possible, according to the ARA.
“In today’s economic downturn it is even more important for consumers to have access to this data,” said ARA CEO Michael Wilson. “Every day our members have to turn customers away or send them to a dealer where they have to pay a fee to have codes in a part reset before the part will work in a vehicle.”