BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: SB 750
SENATOR MARK DESAULNIER, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: Hernandez
VERSION: 2/18/11
Analysis by: Carrie Cornwell FISCAL: no
Hearing date: May 10, 2011
SUBJECT:
Motor vehicle keys
DESCRIPTION:
This bill allows BMW to continue providing replacement keys for
its vehicles, rather than providing information to locksmiths to
produce replacement keys.
ANALYSIS:
SB 1542 (Migden), Chapter 433, Statutes of 2006, requires that a
manufacturer of motor vehicles sold or leased in California
beginning in 2008 provide a registered owner of a vehicle,
though a registered locksmith, with the information the
locksmith needs to produce a replacement key or other
functionally similar device to enable the registered owner to
enter, start, and operate his or her vehicle. The law includes
various security measures, including a requirement that the
locksmith already be registered with the manufacturer, a process
for the locksmith to verify the identity of the vehicle's
registered owner, and a requirement that the locksmith destroy
the information once he or she has produced the replacement key
or functionally similar device.
This provision of law does not apply to:
A manufacturer of a make of vehicles that sold less than
2,500 vehicles in California in the prior calendar year.
This includes Rolls Royce, Maserati, Ferrari, and over a
dozen other makes of automobiles.
Until January 1, 2013, a vehicle line of a motor vehicle
manufacturer that sold between 2,500 and 5,000 vehicles
(i.e., Saab).
Until January 1, 2013, a vehicle line of a motor vehicle
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manufacturer that on January 1, 2006 did not provide for
the production of replacement keys or similar devices by
anyone other than the vehicle manufacturer itself, provided
that the manufacturer operates a request line available at
all times through which a replacement key could be
furnished within one day or via the next overnight delivery
at the request of a registered owner or registered owner's
family member. (This provision was included in SB 1542 to
address the system BMW uses to provide replacement keys to
registered owners of its vehicles).
This bill deletes the January 1, 2013 sunset date on the
provision allowing a manufacturer with a system in place by 2006
to furnish a key itself rather than provide information to a
locksmith to make a replacement key. This would in effect allow
BMW a permanent exemption from the system that allows locksmiths
to produce replacement vehicle keys.
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose . The sponsor of this bill, BMW, reports that due to
the difficulty of reproducing its more sophisticated keys and
the need for international security of its vehicles, it sought
and received, subject to a five-year sunset, an alternative
approach (described in the third bullet above) to the general
provisions of SB 1542. Under this special provision, an
automobile manufacturer must do the following:
Operate a 24/7 telephone or electronic request service
for lost or misplaced keys to registered owners of a
vehicle or the owner's family members.
Produce a replacement key or functionally similar device
that allows the registered owner of a vehicle or family
member to enter, start, and operate the vehicle.
Deliver the key to the registered owner of the vehicle
or family member at a reasonable cost within one day of the
request or via the next overnight delivery.
According to BMW, the sunset provision of January 1, 2013
allowed automobile manufacturers availing themselves of this
provision to determine if additional technology could be
developed for the same level of security while accommodating
customer needs. To date, BMW reports that it has found the
current 24/7 process meets the customer's needs for lost and
misplaced keys and that no additional technology has been
SB 750 (HERNANDEZ) Page 3
developed that can better deliver those services.
Since the effective date of SB 1542 on January 1, 2008, BMW
has received approximately 4,400 lost key requests through its
customer service process. According to BMW representatives,
in all but one instance the requested replacement key was
delivered to the vehicle owner within 24 hours or via the next
overnight delivery. BMW's representatives state that the
manufacturer has received no owner complaints concerning BMW's
key replacement process.
1.Arguments in opposition . The Automobile Club of Southern
California and AAA Northern California (the Auto Clubs), the
sponsors SB 1542 in 2006, oppose this bill because it would
weaken the consumer protections that SB 1542 created and do so
solely to benefit a foreign special interest.
The Auto Clubs sponsored SB 1542 in response to their
membership becoming increasingly frustrated with the
difficulty and expense of getting a replacement when a key was
lost, stolen, broken, or defective. As keys have incorporated
new technologies, making a replacement key requires coding
information that only the manufacturer can provide.
Manufacturers did not want to release this key code
information, but SB 1542 created a system through which
manufacturers could safely do so. The Auto Clubs note that
BMW has had five years to comply with the key replacement
system the Legislature created in 2006 and that there is no
reason to continue to exempt BMW from this system.
2.The sunset date in SB 1542 . The proponents and the opponents
disagree on why the sunset that this bill repeals was included
in SB 1542. The provision with the relevant sunset allows
auto manufacturers that were the sole producers of keys for
their vehicles in 2006 to produce and deliver overnight
replacement keys for their vehicles, rather than to use the
locksmith system created in SB 1542. Only BMW was eligible to
avail itself of this five-year alternative system.
The proponents of this bill assert that the sunset was
included so that BMW could determine if additional technology
could be developed to achieve the same level of security while
accommodating customer needs. In contrast, the Auto Clubs
contend that the sunset date was included to give BMW time to
bring its system into compliance with the general provisions
of SB 1542.
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This alternative provision with its five-year sunset was added
to SB 1542 after it had passed this committee and while it was
awaiting hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee. That
committee's analysis of SB 1542 notes that the provision
"would allow manufacturers currently using the BMW-model to
keep their current models while allowing them sufficient time
to convert their designs?.eventually providing equal access
rights to all purchasers of late model vehicles." Thus, it
supports the contention the Auto Clubs make as to the reason
behind the 2013 sunset date.
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the Committee before noon on
Wednesday, May 4,
2011)
SUPPORT: BMW Group (sponsor)
OPPOSED: AAA Northern California
Automobile Club of Southern California
California Locksmiths Association
one individual (from Florida)