If your car's "check engine" light comes on, your local repair shop may not be able to turn it off, even if it can fix the underlying problem.

The reason is that independent mechanics often don't have the necessary software, codes and tools needed to fix today's increasingly technical vehicles.

Several local mechanics say that while dealerships get access to updated tools and information, they are often left out.

"We may have to tow the car back to the dealer to do something, which can make customers want to just take it to the dealer in the first place," said Barry Burkholder, president of Barry's Paint Shop, a collision repair shop in Ephrata.

Burkholder said he faces the issue when trying to reset sensors on air bags or anti-lock brakes.

U.S. Rep Joe Pitts met with Burkholder and more than two dozen repair-shop and parts-store owners and managers Wednesday morning at the 1120 Dillerville Road NAPA Auto Parts store to discuss the issue, known as "right to repair."

"This is a concern that impacts small business. Basically it is a matter of a fair, level field for competition," Pitts said.

While Pitts was sympathetic to the mechanics' plight, he was pessimistic about the passage of the "right to repair" legislation that he described as "stuck" in a House committee.

The legislation would give independent mechanics updated information and tools, but Pitts said car manufacturers represent a "powerful interest" that wants to keep things the way they are.

Pitts, a Republican who represents Lancaster and Chester counties, said he wasn't sponsoring the "right to repair" legislation now because he was worried about how it might affect foreign treaties. Instead, he favored trying to arrange congressional testimony or some other forum for mechanics to air the issue.

During the hour-long visit to the auto-parts store, Pitts heard several mechanics and parts suppliers describe the difficulties they face.

"What (manufacturers are) doing essentially is cutting out competition. When you take away competition out of any industry, it hurts us," said Mike Dietrich II, part owner of six Lancaster County NAPA stores, including the one on Dillerville Road.

Several mechanics said they worried that if customers realize that independent mechanics can't do certain fixes, they'll lose business.

"We're going to be relegated to doing oil changes and tire rotations, basic jobs like that, and (customers will) have to go back to the dealership for anything more serious than that. And our shops can't exist doing oil changes," said Douglas Senne, business manager of Middletown, Del.-based Quaker City Motor Parts, which supplies Lancaster County NAPA stores.

Jerry Schantz, executive director of Alliance of Automotive Service Providers of Pennsylvania, Inc., said that while some larger shops can get necessary codes and tools to fix the newer vehicles, smaller shops often can't.

"There is information available, but it is very, very cumbersome to get and it is very expensive," Schantz said.

CONTACT US: cumble@LNPnews.com or 481-6031