(Article) "Trump says Ford, GM pushing bill to restrict right to repair"

[Motorpsychology]

AI Overview further below and in bold italics from Ford authority, also GM alone has spent over $11m 2026 ytd on lobbying congress. gotta make up for those EV investment losses somewhere. One might think that the polling showing 80% of consumers opposed to ROR restrictions would carry the field but that's not how the game is played.

Ford just launched a new ad campaign amid its efforts to ramp up repair support for older vehicles, all as consumers are holding on to their cars longer than ever. This all comes as vehicle owners are increasingly using independent shops versus going to a franchise dealership - those highly profitable dealer service visits have declined over the past eight years, from 33 percent to 29 percent. Over that same time period, the number of independent repair shops has grown from 266,000 to 300,000, which is alarming for both Ford and its dealers.

AI overview:
Whether Congress passes auto right-to-repair legislation in 2026 remains highly uncertain, as the issue faces intense, balanced lobbying from both the automotive industry and aftermarket/insurance groups. While bipartisan, popular support exists, significant industry spending has successfully stalled federal action, leading to a "pitched battle" in Congress. [1, 2, 3]
As of June 2026, the legislative situation is characterized by the following:

• Intense Lobbying and Counter-Lobbying: "Big Auto" (including GM, Honda, BMW) is spending heavily to block federal legislation, arguing that giving independent shops access to telematic data compromises cybersecurity and consumer safety. Conversely, insurance companies (like Allstate), independent mechanics, and the CAR Coalition are pushing back, investing millions to ensure access to vehicle data to keep repair costs down. [1, 2]
• Legislative Standoff: Despite bipartisan support for the REPAIR Act (H.R. 1566/S. 1379), which would guarantee independent access to tools and data, similar language was stripped from earlier legislative attempts in 2026 following industry pressure. [1, 2]
• 2026 Progress and Hurdles: In May 2026, a House committee advanced a modified bill that included some repair provisions but not all of the key demands of the REPAIR Act, according to the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB). A potential, watered-down compromise, often referred to as a "2014 memorandum of understanding," is being considered, but it does not fully address the modern telematic data issues, per the ⁠Detroit Free Press. [1]
• Political Context: The bill's chances are impacted by the 2026 midterm election environment, which makes controversial, industry-opposed legislation harder to pass. []

Conclusion on Lobbying Impact:
While lobbyists' dollars have undeniably delayed the passage of a robust, comprehensive federal right-to-repair law, they have not completely killed the effort. The final outcome in 2026 will likely depend on whether the bipartisan, consumer-focused push (supported by over 80% of voters, according to ⁠CAR Coalition polls) can overcome the heavy, well-funded opposition from major automakers. [1, 2]

Well done, @dtech thanks for posting.

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[ControlNode]

Well, not mentioned in that article was that official from the National Automotive Dealers Association (NADA) were also there, and I'm sure they are the ones pushing harder for that than the makers.

What is hypocritical is that they say some of the lockdowns on the system are for cyber security, but then for owners that want to work on they're own vehicle and by the CD they get a software package that will not reliably run on the current Windows version and seem so like Windows XP best. If security is not a concern on the CDs, it's unlikely it really is with the car, the motivations are not security. For the user side service manual it's about making a barrier to access the data they are required to provide the public that most DIYers would not attempt to overcome (either hours researching getting the tools to install on a modern system and still having break again with a browser update, or setting up a whole VM for an older OS to sandbox the old CD software in). On the car side, it's about making you bring it in to them for repairs because they've locked you out. With as much telemetry and online access as cars have today there is no reason they can have the car linked to the owner profile and if someone attempts to access the car they get a enter code prompt that is sent to the owners phone via push notification or text that is then entered. That some logic could apply with the owner brings their car to the dealer, they get a request to hand over access authorization to that dealer, you heard me right, if cyber-security is the concern not even the dealer should access without owner granting a revocable permission to access it. Local override with owner password may need to be an option to consider as wells in case the issue at hand is in the networking module.

I still 100% think that when you buy a car and it's linked to your owner profile on the manufacturer's site, you should have free access to all of the same online digital resources for that car/truck as the techs in the shop. I can see IDS being a sub/purchase, but the online manuals, wiring diagrams and troubleshooting tools should all be free. Not too many decades ago, well maybe any decades ago is too many, when you bought a car, the manual was in it. Then dealers started removing them to put on their own shelves.

Right now on my old MSI laptop running Windows 11 the SVG viewer for the wiring diagrams broke again, Luckily I like hard copies and already bought all the books that I could for all of my cars, which happens to be the wiring diagrams only. For my 84 Civic 2000S I have 7 books to cover the major donor make/models (84-87 Civic, 86-89 Integra, 97-01 CR-V): FSM and ETM as well as my own book documenting the electrical interface connections between those in the ETMs of those donors. I had all of the books for my 67 Lincoln and they went with the car, as I feel they should. I still need to get the Del Sol VTEC manuals as those will be the closest US data for the new project car, though 90-91 JDM Integra XSI manuals would be better, if I can read it.

 

[LaBalbe]

Right now on my old MSI laptop running Windows 11 the SVG viewer for the wiring diagrams broke again, Luckily I like hard copies and already bought all the books that I could for all of my cars, which happens to be the wiring diagrams only. For my 84 Civic 2000S I have 7 books to cover the major donor make/models (84-87 Civic, 86-89 Integra, 97-01 CR-V): FSM and ETM as well as my own book documenting the electrical interface connections between those in the ETMs of those donors. I had all of the books for my 67 Lincoln and they went with the car, as I feel they should. I still need to get the Del Sol VTEC manuals as those will be the closest US data for the new project car, though 90-91 JDM Integra XSI manuals would be better, if I can read it.

I take it those are in Japanese? If so, my wife is a J2E (Japanese-to-English) translator; she normally works on medical/pharma material, but has experience with technical documents as well. DM me if you want me to ask her for a quote.

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