Fix, or Toss? The Right to Repair Movement Gains Ground – The New York Times

Extending the life of a product even relatively briefly can have significant benefits, according to Nathan Proctor, who leads the right-to-repair campaign at the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, a consumer advocacy group. If Americans would extend the life of their cellphones by one year, for instance, it would be the climate-saving equivalent of taking 636,000 cars off the road, or about the amount of passenger vehicles registered in the state of New Mexico.

Right to repair advocates like Ms. Gordon-Byrne and Mr. Proctor highlight recent strides in the automotive industry. In next months election, Massachusetts will have a question on the ballot designed to ensure that drivers will continue to be able to have local repair shops not just authorized dealers work on their cars as they become more automated and manufacturers control access to that data.

That measure is designed to build on a 2012 bill in the state that required carmakers to provide independent repair shops with access to the diagnostic tools that had been available only to dealerships.

The new measure, known as Question 1 on the ballot, has met resistance.

If Question 1 passes in Massachusetts, anyone could access the most personal data stored in your vehicle, says the narrator in one advertisement. The campaign against the measure talks about the risks of hacking, identity theft and cyberstalking as part of a multimillion-dollar advertising spend by a group called Coalition for Safe and Secure Data, a manufacturer-backed organization that is fighting the question in November.

Conor Yunits, a spokesman for the coalition, said it sees the new measure as unnecessary: Massachusetts is already the only state that has a right to repair law on the books. The technology they care about telematics is already covered by the existing law. In our view, this is an attempt by national auto parts chains to get access to more consumer data.

Manufacturers have considerable influence over the standards to which their products are made, said Mark Schaffer, a consultant on the life cycle of electronics. According to a 2017 report that he wrote, thats because major manufacturers sit on the panels that set guidelines for things like environmental impact. As a result, he said, tougher standards can be difficult to achieve.

As a whole, the industry needs to raise the floor on repairability, Mr. Schaffer said. Thats probably not going to happen until there is a legal requirement at a state or at a national level.

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Fix, or Toss? The Right to Repair Movement Gains Ground - The New York Times