Your car, your repair shop: Congress mandates ADAS safety standards

What it does

This bill requires the Department of Transportation to develop safety guidelines within 24 months for how much car owners and repair shops can modify vehicles with advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) — like lane-keeping and collision-avoidance — without breaking those safety features. It mandates that manufacturers share tolerance information with owners, establishes calibration and testing standards, and makes manufacturers liable for violations. The bill also requires a 12-month study assessing feasibility and cost.

Why we flagged it

The bill's core mechanism is establishing transparent safety guidelines for vehicle modification and repair, with mandatory manufacturer disclosure and independent testing protocols. It functions as a consumer protection and right-to-repair measure, not as a subsidy, carve-out, or deregulation.

What the text implies

• Manufacturers must disclose proprietary sensor calibration data and tolerance thresholds to owners and repair shops, potentially reducing their competitive advantage in aftermarket service pricing.
• Independent repair facilities and aftermarket shops gain legal standing to perform ADAS calibration and testing, directly competing with manufacturer-authorized service centers.
• The bill's enforcement mechanism ties ADAS modification compliance to existing civil penalties under 49 USC 30165, which can reach thousands of dollars per violation, creating strong incentive for manufacturer compliance.
• Standardized calibration and testing protocols may reduce the cost and complexity of vehicle repairs, benefiting consumers but potentially reducing service revenue for dealerships.

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

Ordinary car owners and independent repair shops gain the right to modify and repair their vehicles while maintaining safety system functionality, with transparent standards and testing protocols. Manufacturers are required to disclose technical information and maintain accountability, reducing information asymmetry and protecting consumer choice in repair and customization.

Who stands to gain

• independent automotive repair shops
• aftermarket parts suppliers
• vehicle owners (reduced repair costs)
• independent testing laboratories

Named in the bill

Department of Transportation (DOT), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), SAE International, US New Car Assessment Program (NCAP), automotive manufacturers, independent automotive aftermarket, vehicle dealers

Where it stands

6 cosponsors: 4 Democrats, 2 Republicans.

• Dec 12, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• Dec 12, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Energy and Commerce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade”
• Feb 10, 2026 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Subcommittee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

16 lobbying clients named this bill on 18 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $14,482,500 in lobbying spend. A filing names 9 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.

More lobbying clients named this bill than 95% of bills with at least one filing.

Diana Harshbarger, the sponsor, reported $727,520 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle. $1,000 of that came from 1 PAC tied to these lobbying clients.

• General Motors Company — $6,610,000 on 2 filings
• American Property Casualty Insurance Association — $2,140,000 on 1 filing
• Toyota Motor North America Inc (tma) — $1,930,500 on 1 filing
• American Honda Motor Co., Inc. — $1,477,000 on 1 filing
• Fca Us LLC — $960,000 on 1 filing

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 22, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.