For years, the federal government’s approach to anyone who touches their own emissions equipment has ranged from cautious skepticism to active enforcement action against individual hobbyists. On Monday, President Trump signed a presidential memorandum that, at least on paper, directs the Environmental Protection Agency toward a different posture: leaving home mechanics and independent repair shops alone. Supporters of the move have taken to calling it the “freedom to fix.”
The memo, titled “Lowering the Cost of Living by Promoting the Freedom to Fix,” directs the EPA to issue guidance within 30 days clarifying exactly which repairs an individual is permitted to make to their own vehicle’s emissions systems. It’s worth being precise about what this memo does and doesn’t do: it is not a green light to remove or disable emissions hardware entirely. The directive is narrowly aimed at clarifying which repairs are legally permissible and making it easier to certify legal aftermarket parts, not at legalizing the wholesale removal of emissions equipment. The broader “right to repair” fight, centered on manufacturers restricting access to diagnostic data and proprietary software, is a separate and ongoing battle that this memo does not resolve.
The memo also addresses California’s outsized influence over national emissions policy, directing federal agencies to reduce their reliance on standards set by the California Air Resources Board. For the aftermarket parts industry, where trade groups including SEMA have lobbied for this kind of regulatory clarity for years, the memo represents one of the more favorable signals the industry has received from Washington in some time.
Reactions to the memo have split along predictable lines. Some enthusiasts and industry observers have pointed out that it took an executive-level directive to formally clarify something many assumed they already had the right to do: repair their own property. Others frame it more favorably, noting that after years of enforcement actions and significant penalties aimed at the aftermarket parts industry, independent mechanics and hobbyists now have clearer federal backing. Environmental advocates and some regulators, meanwhile, have historically raised concerns that loosened emissions-repair oversight could make it easier for improperly modified vehicles to pollute more than permitted under the Clean Air Act, an angle worth watching as the EPA’s guidance takes shape. Either way, the EPA’s 30-day clock to produce clarifying guidance is now running, and the specifics of that guidance will determine how much actually changes for the people doing the wrenching.