Transportation bill makes TSB repair notices available to consumers

[Jay2TheRescue]

Transportation bill makes TSB repair notices available to consumers
Jul 5, 2012 12:00 PM

Part of the transportation bill passed last week in Congress includes a big win for consumers: Technical Service Bulletins (TSBs), which highlight common problems to dealers and the best way to repair them, must all be made available to the public. Currently only a subset of the TSBs are available on the NHTSA website.

The bill requires automakers to provide TSBs to the Department of Transportation, and for the DOT to make them publicly available on the Internet. The information has to include model year, make, model, and a summary of the needed repairs, and it must be published in a searchable format.

TSBs are similar to recalls, in that they identify a potential problem and how to fix it, but they are not mandatory, and dealers may charge for the work if the car is out of warranty.

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[bobc455]

I thought they were already available, didn't realize it was limited

[Jay2TheRescue]

Apparently, although they were supposed to all be available, this has not been enforced since the early 80's.

[Eric_N]

The bill was already signed by the President. One of the objectives of the transportation spending package is to boost the economy. Among its other functions, which involves funding for highway fixes, was the release of technical service bulletins to the public, which usually are only between car makers and dealers.

[bobc455]

Interesting. According to that article, the TSB's have to be made available to the NHTSA but the NHTSA would charge a fee to send them to a regular Joe.