By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON, June 4 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump said on Thursday he met with senior leaders in the auto industry to discuss the ongoing debate over “right-to-repair” legislation.
Trump met with GM CEO Mary Barra, Ford Motor senior executive Andrew Frick and top officials with the National Automobile Dealers Association and the Alliance for Automotive Innovation along with Republican Senator Bernie Moreno, a former auto dealer.
Ford confirmed it took part in the meeting, while the auto groups declined to comment. GM did not respond to a request for comment.
“We had the auto industry in yesterday. They don’t want people to fix their car. I said ‘That’s strange!'” Trump said. “They have a thing; nobody’s allowed to fix their car.”
The auto industry has sparred with independent repair shops and other groups for years over the ability to repair new vehicles. The U.S. auto service market is worth about $200 billion annually.
Legislation passed by a U.S. House of Representatives committee last week would write into law existing industry memorandums of understanding and would give the Federal Trade Commission authority to enforce the agreements.
The auto alliance, which represents nearly all major automakers, said it supported the proposal and noted 75% of post-warranty vehicle repair work happens at independent shops. The group said in 2014 automakers committed to making all repair instructions, tools and diagnostic codes readily available to dealers and independent repairers.
Many lawmakers and independent repair shops say more is needed and want Congress to pass separate legislation to ensure vehicle owners have access and can share information necessary for repairs including diagnostic data.
Proposed legislation would require vehicle manufacturers to give owners and independent repair shops access to vehicle data related to diagnostics, repair, calibration, and recalibration.
A number of lawmakers argue that by restricting access to data, automakers can raise prices and independent repair shops must spend hefty sums to get access to repair software.
The auto dealers group opposes the legislation, saying it would enable aftermarket parts manufacturers to reverse engineer auto parts and produce “knockoffs,” and argues it gives insurance companies more power to influence repair decisions.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chris Reese)
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