Let third time be repair right's charm

It seems like it was just the other day that a plea for lawmakers to pass Right to Repair legislation appeared in this space under the headline, "Balance interests in auto repair issue." Just the other day in this case happens to be Oct. 3, 2007.

But lo and behold, Right to Repair is back on the docket at the Statehouse. It represents a battle between the automotive industry and the independent automotive repair business over the sharing of codes needed to repair vehicles that are increasingly reliant on computers. Lawmakers found the means not to render a decision in 2007 and did so again in 2008.

Will the third time be the charm for Right to Repair? For the sake of consumers, we hope it passes. For the sake of the American manufacturing sector, and because of the critical role intellectual property rights play in our economy, it should come with protection of legitimate trade secrets.

Doing that while stopping short of making American motorists a captive market for the auto industry will take a balancing of interests, along with oversight, for which a National Automobile Service Task Force was set up.

Supporters of the auto industry have made some strides in pointing out that this is not the pure big business vs. little fight that it may appear on the surface.

They say mega-department stores and other major retailers would gain from Right to Repair and accuse them of funding the battle.

Maybe so. But somebody's going to make money on car repairs. Consumers should have a choice on how much and who they pay it to. And those choices are becoming increasingly limited with technological gains in motor vehicle equipment.

One thing that has changed in the past two years is that the American auto industry, in financial trouble in 2007, reached the brink of collapse. Their rescue was dependent to a large degree on the American taxpayer. In their other role as motorists, these taxpayers deserve fair play in return. Right to Repair, with adequate trade secret safeguards, would give them more of the level playing field which fair play requires.