ASA Joins AAVOR in NHTSA Vehicle Data Access Comments

Shops Need Data to Repair Customers’ Vehicles

The Automotive Service Association (ASA), in partnership with members of the American Alliance for Vehicle Owner’s Rights (AAVOR), submitted comments to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in response to their document “Cybersecurity Best Practices for the Safety of Modern Vehicles”.

This document, which is an updated version of the best practices published by NHTSA in 2016, is the non-binding guidance from NHTSA to the automobile industry for improving vehicle cybersecurity and safety. The comments signed by ASA encourage NHTSA to add provisions to the best practices assuring vehicle owner’s rights to have access to vehicle telematics data and control over its use.

The 2016 Cybersecurity Best Practices included little to no input from motor vehicle owners or independent automotive repair shops. The submitted comments represent an effort from ASA and other stakeholders to rectify this issue and make our voices heard. ASA believes that vehicle owners are entitled to access and control over their vehicle data and should have the ability to share this pertinent data with a repair shop of their choice. We are optimistic that NHTSA observes our comments and will reflect these views in the updated NHTSA Cybersecurity Best Practices for the Safety of Modern Vehicles.

To read the 2021 Cybersecurity Best Practices for the Safety of Modern Vehicles, click here.

To read the ASA comments submitted to NHTSA, click here.