Get Focused on Right-to-Repair
Stephen Piepgrass, leader of Troutman Pepper's Regulatory Investigations, Strategy + Enforcement (RISE) Practice Group, was quoted in the March 18, 2024 Auto Dealer Today article, " Get Focused on Right-to-Repair."
And Stephen Piepgrass, a partner at law firm Troutman Pepper, which is involved in right-to-repair regulatory issues, warns that excessively strict regulations may push manufacturers to remove technology from cars in order to comply while protecting proprietary data.
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"The problem is the more available we make the data, the more hackers will find ways to penetrate it," Piepgrass says. "These laws can deter technological progress. Auto manufacturers have to have control to make these systems work."
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"There will be legal challenges," Piepgrass says. "We are seeing some of that already."
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Some parties are advocating for federal legislation that would codify the provisions of the MOU, ultimately guaranteeing consumer choice in vehicle repair. Piepgrass is one of them. Doing so would make right-to-repair laws uniform in scope and application instead of varied from state to state, he says.
"As groups try to expand this legislation further and further, instead of dealing with a patchwork quilt of obligations and duties under various jurisdictions, having the MOU codified would put everyone at rest and allow both sides to move forward together."