Will Fleets Get Electronic Service Data?
How do we get the OEMs to release the information we need to repair our own equipment?
Jim Winsor
Executive Editor
Last month I received a provocative e-mail that anyone charged with vehicle maintenance can relate to. The questions raised are national issues, and they require answers.
Here are just a few excerpts:
"Our new trucks are becoming more and more complex and we are finding it very difficult for us and any servicing dealer to repair them in a timely fashion and/or correctly the first time. This is increasing our costs substantially and is also forcing us to keep more 'spare' vehicles."
And another:
"How do we get the OEMs to release [to] us the information we need to repair our own equipment? Specifically, we need the ability to download data from the factory for ECM reprogramming; we need to be able to acquire all the necessary equipment/programming to handle repairs as needed."
And a third:
"I feel we at TMC (the Technology and Maintenance Council of ATA) should be doing something about this - and doing it in a big way. I'm sure I'm not the only one having these problems."
These e-mails prompted a deluge of others echoing the same concerns.
Here are a few more:
"I received your e-mail the same day I had a small problem - speedometer calibration. My truck dealer couldn't repair it and I had to take the tractor to my engine dealer to have the ECM reburned - the only way to fix it. If we're forced into truck dealers for repairs like this, they better have all the tools and knowledge to do it."
There were a lot of e-mail amen's for that one.
Here's feedback from one of the truck manufacturer's service providers: "There are legal and cost questions to be answered (about fleets servicing electronics), especially from the emissions angle, since access to ECM data and programming opens the door to altering emissions, which are certified by the truck and engine manufacturer.
"There are also OEM/dealer franchise laws and agreements impacted if fleets, in essence, become service dealers. And who would certify that fleet service facilities, equipment and technicians meet EPA or other requirements?"
Another e-mailer pointed out that the same issues are currently afflicting the passenger car and light truck sector.
"Automotive companies, like the truck OEMs, want people to take their cars to their dealers rather than 'outside' repair shops. The car companies have withheld repair information and/or made access to it and the necessary diagnostic equipment rather expensive."
The auto repair industry has proposed legislation - currently languishing in Congress - called "The Motor Vehicle Owner's Right to Repair Act of 2003."
It's called House Bill 2737, and in the Senate, it's called S. 2138. Apparently, the legislation has gone nowhere so far, even with the support of the Tire Industry Assn. (TIA), the Coalition for Auto Repair Choice, the American Automobile Assn. (AAA), the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), and the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Assn. (AAIA).
Certainly a good starting point for the trucking industry would be to get wording into this legislation to include commercial trucks. It seems to me this should be a "must" for ATA's (the American Trucking Assns.) political arm and TMC should aggressively be pushing fleet interests in this area.
TMC's fall meeting is Sept. 13 - 16 in Nashville and the subject of fleet access to OEM and dealer service information is on the agenda.
One additional thought might be to make this kind of technical data available to fleet subscribers of TMC's new "FleetPortal" all-electronic service information program.
For more on that, see my column HDT Aug.page 116 or visit www.TMCFleetPortal.com.
