Deep down, we knew it wouldn’t be seamless.
I think in 2015, when the associations of the independent aftermarket and the Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association (EMA) signed a national Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) regarding access to medium- and heavy-duty truck repair information, many in the industry were so excited by the agreement they didn’t give proper thought to what it would take to make the deal a reality.
I know I didn’t.
Which isn’t to say I thought OEMs would sign on the dotted line one day and hand over their technical information the next morning. I knew it would take time to pull together their information, determine what they had agreed to make available and then create online portals for the aftermarket to access and purchase that information.
I expected a year. Maybe 18 months. The Jan. 1, 2018, deadline set in the MOU for manufacturers to provide access to their diagnostic and repair information seemed unnecessarily long. Would it really take two and a half years?
Clearly, I was mistaken. Now 40 months removed from the MOU’s signing, members of the independent aftermarket say they remain unable to access all of the repair information promised by the OEM community. Some manufacturers have provided more information than others and, in some cases, aftermarket service providers are able to complete repairs without encountering any information accessibility issues.
But for most of the independent service provider community, the medium- and heavy-duty Right to Repair MOU hasn’t been very helpful.
