Litigation over Massachusetts’ revised right-to-repair law continues to move haltingly through the courts as the opponents spar over how to proceed in the case. 

Two outstanding issues – interpretation of the law’s language, and automakers’ progress in implementing the law – are at latest issue.  

In recently filed documents in U.S. District Court, defendant Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey said her office and plaintiff Alliance for Automotive Innovation haven’t agreed on a “joint proposal” on the issues and on future deadlines.  

Healy wrote that she wants alliance members Stellantis and General Motors to “identify steps taken, funds spent and personnel involved in researching and developing methods of compliance” with parts of the law. 

The alliance, in its filing, said that Healey’s interpretation of the law mostly repeats her “positions at trial, avoids interpreting certain provisions of the Data Access Law entirely, and in many places fails to provide any meaningful, practical interpretation.” 

Voters overwhelmingly approved the revised law in 2020, allowing car owners to take their vehicles to any shop for diagnosis and repair, not only to dealers. The original law required carmakers to provide an onboard system that independent shops could connect to for diagnosis and repair. The law was revised due to telematics innovations that wirelessly transfer captured data directly to manufacturers and their dealers. 

The alliance’s lawsuit claims that the revision makes it impossible for carmakers to equip vehicles with “an inter-operable, standardized, and open access platform.” 

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