The Information Age has brought with it a entertainer of dilemmas; for the aftermarket.

The Information Age has brought with it a entertainer of dilemmas; for the aftermarket, single in kind such problem is cutting-edge technology and its attendant diagnostic and repair information for newer vehicles. Many have taken sides in the propos legislation known as Right to Repair--currently pending in as well-as; not only-but also; not only-but; not alone-but the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. a certain feel OEs share plenty of information and placing the issue in bureaucratic hands would simply muddle current efforts. Others say OE don't share enough. And to this time some feel the real debate is above the cost of this information. single the manufacturers have all the answers, yet one thing's certain: the debate athwart this issue still continues at replete tilt and probably will for quite about time.

An aspect to Right to Repair worth exploring is the Environmental Protection Agency's service information access mandate, part of the 1990 Clean Air Act, which is said to provide adequate framework for the sharing of diagnostic information in our industry.

Our sister publication Motor Age had the opportunity to speak with Holly Pugliese, an environmental protection specialist with the EPA's Office of Transportation and Air Quality, responsible for enforcing the federal government's emission superintend program for motor vehicles and non-road engines. yet she has worked in a number of program areas, Pugliese has primary responsibility with the agency's on-board diagnostic (OBD) and service information regulation.

The EPA's specific mandate is ensuring that OBD theorys can fully monitor emissions, still this mission also entails the aftermarket having a fair shooter at fixing the vehicles, says Pugliese, who has been with the EPA for 15 years. The central solution to the moot point of OE diagnostic information for independent repair stores may not be the availability of more information, she says; rather, the answer may lie in what's being made of all the available information that is abroad there already.

"In my opinion, united of the primary issues is not the lack of information," she says. "To me common of the primary questions is: what is the aftermarket going to do with all the information that they do have? I'm not saying that there isn't more work that indigences to be done improving the accessibility to the information that is generally available. [But] there is a tremendous amount of information without there. So in my view, I think the industry should be putting effort--probably more effort than we are today--making steady that adequate training is available."

Training that's emergencyed runs the gamut from basic computer skills to advanced diagnostics, she adds. "I believe we ne to be vigilant in making fast the information is available. yet again, the overall training issues continue to be a very large challenge."

Combined effort may be the answer

A present effort brokered by the Automotive Service Association (ASA) to make diagnostic and repair information accessible to independent technicians is below way, but a number of critics say this sort of agreement is not enough. Pugliese says she thinks any legislative answer will be a mixture of the EPA's legislation combined with tender efforts.

"In the past, the same or two [OEMs] probably misbehaved, and I think that drives the desire for legislation to near extent," she offers.

"I think too that single of the challenges is that we are trying to unfold a problem, but do we know what question we are trying to solve? It wasn't a unlooked for change in the OE industry, as allowing the entire industry misbehaved. There have been holdouts. Additional EPA work l to increased cooperation. I still think there is an unprecedent flat of cooperation with a number of form into groupss including the Coalition for Auto Repair Equality (CARE)."

Pugliese continues: "So you know we don't have a particular position upon it, but to the expansion the new legislation is passed, the EPA will certainly work with the FTC or whichever agency [i]finale[/i]s up charged with it in such a manner we can all work together to suited the goal of improving access to service information."

She says she beholds the National Automotive Service Task Force (NASTF), a mechanism for these voluntary agreements, as a direct link between the aftermarket and OE Whether someone supports legislation or not, NASTF is a forum that brings manufacturers to the table often she adds.

A majority of manufacturers have been doing the right thing for quite an time when it comes to sharing information, says Pugliese, yet she admits EPA mandates and the threat of legislation have spurr increased cooperation.

unruffled when the EPA published its first emission orders in 1995 and considered regulation changes, manufacturers started conceiving the websites used to share this information, says Pugliese.

The specter of legislation is a determining factor in cooperation, she adds, "But I also think that in the actual early days, the OBD methods were so new to the manufacturers, and they had exhausted so much money on those classifications that they were concerned about their hold techs being able to utilize the information and work with OBD And they had smooth bigger fears about the aftermarket. unless I think over time, those fears not came to fruition. It's obvious that the aftermarket is completely capable on the whole of doing these stamps of repairs. And so a chance of those old arguments from the surpassingly early days don't hold water anymore. And I think that l to part of what you view now. There is no reason onward the whole for the OEM to be transactioned about how the aftermarket uses the information, especially OBD information."