Australia sues Subaru unit over repair data access for independent mechanics
BENGALURU: Australia’s competition regulator said on Friday it had sued Japanese automaker Subaru’s Australian unit, alleging it denied independent car repairers the same access to vehicle repair information as its dealerships.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has filed a lawsuit against Subaru's Australian subsidiary over allegations of denying independent car repairers equal access to vehicle repair information as dealerships. The ACCC alleges that from July 2022 to August 2024, Subaru Australia, the sole importer and distributor of Subaru vehicles in the country, failed to provide independent repairers with the same level of access to software and technical information as its dealerships.
The regulator contends that Subaru offered limited access through remote assistance and supplied data on an annual basis rather than daily or monthly options. Additionally, Subaru allegedly did not immediately provide scheme information to two independent repairers when requested. The ACCC asserts that these actions violated the Motor Vehicle Service and Repair Information Sharing Scheme (MVIS).
The MVIS mandates that motor vehicle service and repair information be made available to all Australian repairers at fair market value. The regulator claims that these breaches forced independent repairers to purchase specific hardware to connect the software to the vehicles, potentially limiting consumers' options to use independent, local, or family-run repairers instead of Subaru's dealerships.
ACCC Commissioner Luke Woodward stated that the ACCC is seeking declarations, penalties, costs, and other orders, though the exact penalties have not been disclosed.
Written by urgent.news from New Straits Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
