Exclusive — EPA Delivers on Trump's 'Freedom to Fix' Affordability Policy for Vehicle, Equipment Repairs

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on Wednesday it is advancing the freedom to fix all vehicles and equipment to ensure that Americans do not have to pay higher costs for repairs.

“Within 30 days of issuing his Presidential Memorandum, President Trump wanted EPA to act. We have operated at Trump speed and provided relief to American operators within just two days,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a written statement. “The freedom to fix allows operators to fix broken machinery easier and faster. Today’s action builds on the great work the Trump Administration has accomplished to lower costs for hard-working Americans.”

The EPA is issuing guidance under the Clean Air Act (CAA) affirming that equipment manufacturers must provide access to the information and tools necessary for timely and affordable repairs, including Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) and other environmental control systems.

The agency’s move to ensure affordability follows as President Donald Trump signed a presidential memo to ensure that consumers and aftermarket-parts manufacturers can have regulatory certainty about whether aftermarket products can be used in repairs due to the CAA’s prohibition on tampering with emissions controls.

Manufacturers have worked to give consumers and independent repair shops the diagnostic tools and information they provide to franchised dealers. Despite this, Clean Air Act anti-tampering laws have created regulatory ambiguity about whether giving out certain tools and information would be considering enabling the tampering of emission control systems.

This has forced many truckers, famers, and others to take their vehicles and equipment to be done by manufacturers instead of being repaired at home or by a local repair shop.

The EPA’s guidance clarifies that light-, medium-, and heavy-duty vehicle manufacturers have a longstanding obligation to release the service information, training information, and tools to diagnose and repair vehicles, especially including faulty DEF systems.

The EPA also recognized the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) as an alternative certification authority for aftermarket vehicle parts. Now, American can use SEMA’s Certified Emission (SC-E) Program to show compliance with the CAA and verify that approved aftermarket parts do not negatively impact vehicle emissions.

“Today, the EPA has verified what SEMA for years has told regulators at the state and federal levels: that the automotive aftermarket industry has a precise mechanism to support emissions testing compliance with federal laws, and it’s called SEMA Certified-Emissions,” said SEMA CEO Mike Spagnola in a written statement.

“This EPA recognition of the SEMA Certified-Emissions program by the EPA is nothing short of a pioneering action by the federal government to utilize private-public partnerships in service to industry regulatory compliance efforts. We’re beyond pleased to continue to provide this service to aftermarket businesses so they can bring their innovative products to the market, and with a renewed certainty that our nation’s clean-air laws are being followed.”

The agency is also stipulating that manufacturers cannot require the use of their own branded parts and that Americans can use generic parts when fixing emissions control systems, including DEF systems.

Wednesday’s action builds on the agency’s February 2026 guidance that advances operators’ ability to fix their nonroad diesel equipment and the agency’s actions to address concerns for American drivers, truckers, farmers, and equipment operators about the DEF and other environmental control systems on highway vehicles.

The move at the time was praised by other leading Trump officials.

“This is another win for American farmers and ranchers by the Trump Administration. By clarifying manufacturers can no longer use the Clean Air Act to justify limiting access to repair tools or software, we are reaffirming the lawful right of American farmers and equipment owners to repair their farm equipment,” Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins in February. “Thank you, Administrator Zeldin, for continuing to put farmers first. This is expected to save our farmers thousands in unnecessary repairs, saving much needed funds after Bidenflation drove up equipment costs on average 45 percent.”

“EPA’s guidance affirming the Right to Repair will save our agricultural communities thousands of dollars by eliminating corporate middlemen and empowering farmers to fix their own equipment,” said Small Business Administration Administrator Kelly Loeffler.

She added, “The Clean Air Act has long crushed family farmers across America — but under the Trump Administration, they are finally getting the regulatory relief to break free from burdensome Green New Scam rules and focus on the vital job of feeding, clothing, and fueling America and the world.”