What You Should Know About ‘Right-to-Repair’ Update

Business litigation partner Lawrence Scarborough and associates Christopher Jefferies and Matthew Lechner offer advice to manufacturers on potential collective redress outcomes arising from the right-to-repair in an article for Automotive World.

In the article, the authors warn manufacturers of the “right-to-repair” movement, which aims to strip manufacturers’ aftermarket restrictions in favor of direct access to the use of third-party parts and non-authorized service providers. They provide an example of a motorcycle manufacturer and an electric vehicle manufacturer facing collective redress actions by customers and owners alleging that each manufacturer violated antitrust, warranty, and unfair competition laws by illegally tying the sale of their vehicles or motorcycles to the use of authorized repair services and parts.

The authors discuss the varying right-to-repair preferences in several states, comparing the U.S. to the EU, where a partial “right to repair” has been recognized since 1995. According to the authors, “It remains likely that the EU will eventually supplement right-to-repair initiatives with both greater access to parts and telematics, with collective redress remedies available to police alleged industry failures.”

The authors share suggested 2024 actions for manufacturers, including surveying proposed regulations, ensuring repair restrictions do not violate antitrust laws, reevaluating product warranties, verifying marketing materials are not misleading, and preparing for government enforcement or collective redress actions.