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Automakers sue Maine over 'right to repair' law

In this July 14, 2010 photo, Andre Monteiro, of Whitman, Mass., the shop foreman at Wilder Brothers American Car Care Center, shines a light into the engine compartment of a car in a repair bay at the garage, in Scituate, Mass. Mom-and-pop repair shops like Wilder's are currently pushing the state Legislature to pass landmark legislation that repair shops say would give them the computer codes they need to repair cars just like the big auto dealerships.
Steven Senne
/
AP file
In this July 14, 2010 photo, Andre Monteiro, of Whitman, Mass., the shop foreman at Wilder Brothers American Car Care Center, shines a light into the engine compartment of a car in a repair bay at the garage, in Scituate, Mass.

A trade group representing global automakers is suing the state of Maine over its automotive right to repair law.

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation filed suit Friday in federal district court in Bangor.

The law, which went into effect earlier this year, requires that automakers make diagnostic repair information available to vehicle owners.

But the trade group argues that automakers can't comply with it, in part because the state hasn't designated an independent entity responsible for administering access to the platform where repair data can be made available to vehicle owners.

“This is an example of putting the cart before the horse," the Alliance for Automotive Innovation said Friday in a statement. "Before automakers can comply, the law requires the attorney general to first establish an ‘independent entity’ to securely administer access to vehicle data. The independent entity hasn’t been established. That’s not in dispute. Compliance with the law right now is not possible."

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation also sued Massachusetts in 2020 to block its right to repair law.

A spokesperson for Maine's Automotive Right to Repair Committee noted that 84% of Mainers voted in favor of the law.

"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 than to do so," Tommy Hickey, with the state's Automotive Right to Repair Committee, said in a statement. "We will work the Maine AG office to assist them in defending car owners and consumers of Maine."