One missing rule now decides who can reach a car’s anti-theft systems in Britain.
Component approvals, safety standards, towing and repair information all move into line with the EU under the Department for Transport’s type approval consultation. One entry is absent from that list. Security-related repair and maintenance information, the material covering immobilisers, keys and anti-theft systems, is governed by SERMI. Law binds the scheme across the EU and Northern Ireland, where vetted independent repairers get access by right. Britain has kept SERMI voluntary. The consultation text hands the granting decision to manufacturers themselves.
The Independent Automotive Aftermarket Federation says that wording gives vehicle makers greater power to refuse independent repairers on cybersecurity grounds. Chief executive Mark Field said the right to repair means little if manufacturers decide who reaches the systems modern cars depend on.
Cybersecurity language travels into the GB text. The EU’s newest repair and maintenance information regulation carries provisions that let a manufacturer control who reaches vehicle systems, and the consultation copies them. References to SERMI do not survive the trip.
A survey lands on the same pressure point. LKQ Euro Car Parts’ first Plug In-Dex found that worries about reaching the diagnostics needed to service newer electric brands are the biggest factor discouraging independent garages from investing in EV capability.
Mandating SERMI inside the GB scheme is the federation’s demand, and it will answer the consultation in full.
The security framing is what will decide it. Access rules written as cybersecurity controls give manufacturers a defensible reason to refuse, and repairers a hard time proving the refusal was commercial.
