BOSTON — Lawmakers trying to reconcile conflicting state laws that require automakers to give more diagnostic information to repair shops criticized officials from AAA Southern New England and the repair industry Tuesday for now honing in on technology they never brought up before.Â
Mark Shaw, president and chief executive officer of AAA Southern New England, was on the hot seat, discussing the auto club’s position and answering questions for more than an hour during a legislative hearing Tuesday. The hearing was packed with advocates, lobbyists and auto industry executives who have been working on the so-called right to repair issue for close to a decade.
Last year, Massachusetts became the first state to pass a law on the nationally debated issue. Auto manufacturers have fought efforts for years, arguing that information sharing jeopardizes proprietary information.
Lawmakers on the Consumer Affairs Committee said they are surprised that the technology, known as telematics, is suddenly taking center stage in the debate as they attempt to marry the differences in two laws, one passed by the Legislature last July and another adopted by voters at the ballot on November. Telematics is a rapidly evolving predictive technology that can alert drivers when a problem is on the verge of happening.
The law passed by the Legislature was forged as a compromise between automakers and a coalition of auto repair shops. However, lawmakers didn’t pass the law soon enough to pull the question from the ballot.
Shaw said the compromise law was forged by a narrow coalition of after-market parts companies, but did not include the auto club, which has 2.5 million members in Massachusetts. “Quite frankly, we weren’t involved,” he said.
