Dealers & Vehicle Codes

[karr95]

Just pulled this article from NJ Biz:

Mechanics Seek The Keys To Servicing All Cars
By Scott Goldstein
43 min. ago

All mechanics would be able to service any car under a first-of-its-kind bill, passed yesterday by the state Assembly, that’s being pushed aggressively by business and consumer advocates.
The Motor Vehicle Owners’ Right to Repair Act, A-803, would give motorists the ability to obtain the manufacturer’s “codes” necessary to diagnose, service and repair their vehicles — eliminating the need for a trip to a dealership for maintenance and repairs.

“As cars have become more technologically advanced, manufacturers have been able to gain an unfair advantage by forcing owners to rely on dealerships for even the most routine maintenance,” said Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D-Mercer), a sponsor of the bill. “It is time to break the monopoly dealerships and manufacturers have held on car maintenance for too long.”

If enacted, New Jersey would be the first state in the country to have such a law.

Under the measure, motor vehicle manufacturers would be required to provide owners, car repair shops and the state Division of Consumer Affairs access to the information and computer codes necessary to service a vehicle. Exemptions would be granted in cases where disclosure of the codes would reveal proprietary information.

Dealers or manufacturers violating the law would be punished by fines of up to $10,000 for a first offense, and up to $20,000 for subsequent offenses. The measure passed 49 to 22, with eight abstentions. It now goes to the Senate for consideration.

[V]

good

[Stevoone]

Do you know what they mean by Manufacturer Codes? Is that like the VIN RPO code's or check engines light codes?

If it's for MIL codes isn't that what All-data and Chilton books are for? All you need is a cheapy scanner to get codes out of a car. And a private shop or someone working out of there garage isn't going to have all the specialty service tools to work on the car anyway. If they have to make information on how to fix cars available to the public won't that hurt the companies that make 3rd party service manuals?

[BonzoHansen]

Yeah, I don't understand what this bill does? A scanner & a manual you are there. You wanna play with cars? Buy tools.

[sweetbmxrider]

? i'm with you two. all data covers all codes including manufacturer. this doesn't make sense. is it from 1990? we already fix all that junk. weird

[Clutch Master]

thats ********, if you cant afford the software to diag cars then you should go out and buy it just like all the dealers have to buy them, we dont get **** free from the manufacturer. would you open up a shop with no tools..... i dont think so......


just suck it up and buy the equipment or then get a job at a dealer and quit the complaining......

[sweetbmxrider]

yeah but a small shop doesn't see as much work as a dealership would to need the software. but i could see it changing in the near future with the obdII cars only getting older. plus a dealership can cover these expenses much easier than a small shop.

[NastyEllEssWon]

thats crap. you gotta pay to play. are you saying that i own more diagnostic software in the trunk of my car than the avg local small shop? if so then those shops need to get on the ball.

[V]

from when i was in the private repair industry, i remember occasionally dealing with some software issues, mainly regarding higher end and imported cars, ie BMWs and some lexus/toyotas. yes you can buy the software in most cases, but iirc, there were a few cases where the software hadnt been released yet or there just wasnt a version for that operating system. in those cases, we had to turn work away to the dealer. and with the more and more complew computer systems, the amount of software needed increases every year. yes you can scan and read codes, but theres other stuff as well.

[NJSPEEDER]

Yet another law that will never be enforced

[Frosty]

Does NJ pass laws just in the name of passing laws?

[BigAls87Z28]

This actually goes along several different other laws that have been passed that allow your average person to fix thier car. Just like the law that states your warranty cannot be voided if your vehicle is serviced by someone outside of a dealer. This just ties up any modern problems associated with modern cars. IMO, not a HUGE deal, but something that needs to be done.

[BonzoHansen]

I'm still waiting to see what this actually means.

[BigAls87Z28]

I dont understand most of it. You an buy code scanners for the majority of vehicles, and most shops have a basic code scanner.
Now, not everyone wants to spend a few hundred or thousands of dollars on an All-Data system or equiv just to understand how to fix the problem. This is going to be more to do with DIY people then shops. If everyone had to go to a shop to perform thier own service, then I wouldnt be sitting here, typing this on the computer at work with nothing to do.
There are even problems with regular maint. intervals. While we have the info as to what needs to be done, on some cars I cannot reset maint lights on a lot of newwer cars. We do have a service that tells us how to reset 96% of the lights, but some require certain tools...meh.

[karr95]

If I see anything else regarding this I will post it up on the thread.

My sister's car was throwing a code about a year ago, Advance told me what it was for free and sold me the o2 sensor to fix it. I don't see any way that could have been made easier or cheaper.

[jims69camaro]

those code scanners that you buy in the store can only be used on one car - kind of protecting the company that sells them from a small shop buying one to use on multiple cars. i understand that, but i don't understand what the law is supposed to do? maybe to work just the opposite of the manufacturer's design... buy one scanner to use on multiple cars? dunno...

[jims69camaro]

Originally Posted by Frosty

Does NJ pass laws just in the name of passing laws?

yes. next.

[sweetbmxrider]

Originally Posted by NastyEllEssWon

thats crap. you gotta pay to play. are you saying that i own more diagnostic software in the trunk of my car than the avg local small shop? if so then those shops need to get on the ball.

hahaha yeah that is the only expense a shop needs to cover too. places are just full of money looking to throw it somewhere.

Originally Posted by SmokingSS

from when i was in the private repair industry, i remember occasionally dealing with some software issues, mainly regarding higher end and imported cars, ie BMWs and some lexus/toyotas. yes you can buy the software in most cases, but iirc, there were a few cases where the software hadnt been released yet or there just wasnt a version for that operating system. in those cases, we had to turn work away to the dealer. and with the more and more complex computer systems, the amount of software needed increases every year. yes you can scan and read codes, but theres other stuff as well.

it does happen and if you actually did fix it and charged the customer for all the actual time it took for you to go through, learn about, and painstakingly fix the problem, well you just wouldn't have a happy customer.

Originally Posted by BigAls87Z28

While we have the info as to what needs to be done, on some cars I cannot reset maint lights on a lot of newwer cars. We do have a service that tells us how to reset 96% of the lights, but some require certain tools...meh.

what cars? most of them are super easy. its the older bmws, mercedes, and vws that sometimes require you to use a special tool. i hate the crazy ones in volvos and mercedes where you have to do several different things in so many seconds. give me 1 button to hold or gms gas pedal 3 times in 5 seconds thing. damn engineers.

[Knipps]

Originally Posted by sweetbmxrider

i hate the crazy ones in volvos and mercedes where you have to do several different things in so many seconds. give me 1 button to hold or gms gas pedal 3 times in 5 seconds thing. damn engineers.

My friend has a DVD headunit where you're supposed to do that for it to work (ensures the car is stopped) but he hooked it up to a few switches in the dash instead

[sweetbmxrider]

thats what i would do. forget watching in park, i wanna look at something entertaining while i'm driving

[BigAls87Z28]

Yes, the oil reset light with teh 3 pedals is awesome. My Malibu was even easier.
You just cycled through the DIC till you got to "Reset Oil Light". Hit enter, and done.

[sweetbmxrider]

BOSE stereo right? yeah my buddy's impala was the same till he got a head unit. luckily gm was smart and the three pedal works there too.