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Maine voters overwhelmingly voted in favor of the Auto Repair Right Act in last week’s election. The bill passed by a vote of 84 to 13%, and millions of dollars have been spent lobbying to block such legislation, trying to convince consumers that it should be illegal to repair things they have purchased. It sent a sharp message to politicians and manufacturers.
Question 4, which provides for consumer data access to vehicle diagnostics for repair purposes, passed by a margin of 84.3 to 15.7 in Tuesday’s election, with 94 percent of the votes counted. The yes/no questions were simple. “Will we require automakers to standardize on-board diagnostic systems and provide remote access to those systems and machine data to owners and independent repair facilities?”
The Maine vote showed once again that the right to repair in all its forms is overwhelmingly popular with consumers, who are unfazed by fear-mongering campaigns by manufacturers. A similar bill passed in Massachusetts in 2020 with support from 75% of voters.
The “you don’t own what you buy” extension of copyright is one of the most widely despised among Americans who otherwise agree with it. Just articulate what that means in real life (“it’s impossible to fix things”) and move decisions away from where lobbyists and politicians swim with money.