Right-to-repair surges nationwide

Right-to-repair is having a big year in statehouses. Advocates say lawmakers have introduced more than 50 bills across 22 states in 2026, covering everything from cars and phones to wheelchairs and farm equipment. The core idea is consistent: require manufacturers to share the documents, parts, software, and tools that independent shops and owners need to make repairs, on fair and reasonable terms.

Cars sit at the center of this fight. Automakers made concessions more than a decade ago after Massachusetts passed the first auto right-to-repair law, but supporters say carmakers still limit access to vehicle-generated data, which makes it harder for independents to diagnose and fix newer cars. A federal bill, the Repair Act, would bar manufacturers from using technical or legal barriers to block owners from their own vehicle data. Industry groups counter that opening up that data raises security and intellectual-property risks.

Why it matters: This may signal a steadily improving position for independent shops, though nothing is settled yet. One repair-shop operator quoted in the coverage said the movement has made parts easier to get and lifted demand, with revenue up 15% this year. For some shops, it is worth considering how expanded data and parts access could change which jobs you can take in-house rather than turn away or refer to a dealer.

Heavy-duty repair software maker ShopView reports fast AI adoption across independent repair shops, driven by a technician shortage and pressure to bill more work with fewer people.

The pitch is not that software fixes the labor shortage, but that it makes being short-handed survivable. Shops using these tools report faster work-order throughput, more preventive-maintenance sell-through, and better technician retention, since less time goes to paperwork and customer write-ups. Adoption has been strongest among mid-market and multi-location shops, though single-bay operators are a growing share of users.

Why it matters: This could reinforce how AI is entering shops through the back office first, the estimating and documentation work, rather than the actual wrenching. When the bottleneck is people, anything that frees up billable hours matters. For some shops, it is worth considering whether trimming administrative time is a realistic way to get more out of the techs you already have while hiring stays hard.

Carfax estimates that about 3.2 million U.S. vehicles carry an outstanding "park outside" recall, a designation the NHTSA uses for fire risks that can happen even when a car is switched off. Much of the current total traces to Jeep plug-in hybrids, where damaged cells inside the high-voltage battery pack can ignite while parked. Regulators issued alerts covering around 1 million Jeeps and later added hundreds of thousands of Kia Tellurides.

The hard part is that for many of these vehicles, no repair is available yet. Owners have been told not to charge the cars and to park them away from buildings and other vehicles, with no clear timeline for a fix. When a remedy does arrive, dealers are expected to update battery software and inspect or replace the battery pack if needed.

Why it matters: This may signal a growing category of recall tied to complex battery systems, where the warning comes long before the fix. As more electrified vehicles reach shops, owners may turn to you with questions about whether their car is safe to park in the garage. For some shops, it is worth considering how you handle those conversations, since checking open recalls at intake can build trust even when the actual repair sits with the dealer.

📱 OBDeleven, a diagnostics platform that pairs a compact device with a phone app, says it now covers more than 6 million connected vehicles.

👋 Bill Hanvey, president and CEO of the Auto Care Association since 2015, will retire on June 30, 2027.

🔘 Volkswagen is bringing back physical knobs and buttons in new models, joining Audi and Mercedes in reversing the shift to touch controls that many drivers found distracting.

🎯 Solera and Azimuth launched a tool that breaks out ADAS calibration steps and labor times as a separate line in collision estimates, aiming to standardize a process the companies call inconsistent across the industry.