Trump meets automakers on right-to-repair fight over car fixes

President Donald Trump met with senior auto industry leaders at the White House on Thursday, turning a long-running right-to-repair fight into a fresh political test over who controls increasingly software-driven cars. The discussion brought together General Motors CEO Mary Barra, Ford executive Andrew Frick, officials from the National Automobile Dealers Association and the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, and Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno, a former auto dealer.

Trump cast the issue as one of basic fairness: whether vehicle owners should be able to fix their own cars without automakers keeping too much control. That debate has sharpened as modern vehicles depend more on electronics, proprietary software and access codes that independent repair shops say they need to diagnose problems and complete repairs. For drivers, the stakes are practical and immediate: access to repair information can determine whether a fix happens at a neighborhood shop or at a dealership, and how much it costs.

The fight is also big business. The U.S. auto service market is worth about $200 billion a year, a scale that helps explain why automakers, dealers and the independent aftermarket have fought so hard over access to diagnostic data, software tools and repair information. Independent mechanics say broader access would let them compete on more equal terms and give consumers more options when cars break down. Automakers argue they already provide enough access and that safety, security and intellectual property concerns justify limits.

The White House meeting came as Congress is already moving on the issue. On May 21, the House Energy and Commerce Committee advanced the Motor Vehicle Modernization Act of 2026 by a 48-1 vote. Reporting on the bill said the amended version would codify the 2014 national memorandum of understanding between automakers and the independent repair industry for vehicles under 14,000 pounds and give the Federal Trade Commission authority to enforce it.

That 2014 agreement was signed on January 15, 2014, by the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association, Coalition for Auto Repair Equality, Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and Association of Global Automakers. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation has said its right-to-repair materials are meant to support consumer choice and access to parts, data and service for vehicle owners and independent repair shops. NADA has said the REPAIR Act is unnecessary because the issue was already addressed by the 2014 memorandum and a 2023 industry commitment.

Ford confirmed that Frick attended the meeting. GM did not immediately respond, and the industry groups did not comment. With Congress weighing a scaled-back version of the broader REPAIR Act and the White House now engaged, the dispute has moved well beyond a technical repair rule. It is now a fight over consumer ownership, repair costs and how much control automakers should keep over the cars people buy.