The battle for the right to repair your own car or take it to the independent shop of your choice rages on, despite states like Massachusetts passing Right to Repair laws and similar efforts on a national level. One Hyundai Ioniq 5 owner recently found himself unable to perform a rear brake pad replacement because a simple, yet vital, function was locked behind the same system that dealers and registered locksmiths use to program new keys. The Drive did an excellent deep dive into this situation, and you can read the owner’s Reddit rant for yourself, but I’ll summarize here.
An important step of any brake pad replacement is to push or wind the piston(s) back into the brake caliper to make room for the newer, thicker pads you’re installing. This was a purely mechanical process in the past, but electronic parking brakes make this more complicated, regardless of the make and model. Even a basic Ford Escape requires a procedure resembling a Nintendo cheat code to put the parking brake into maintenance mode before attempting pad replacement. Other modern cars require an OBD2 scanner to command a computer to retract the piston(s) itself. Such bi-directional functionality doesn’t come with a generic $15 interface, but an advanced diagnostic tool can make you a wrenching superhero.
Such functionality doesn’t come cheap. Despite being compelled to comply with the J2534 standard that enables cars to communicate in the same language so that any scanner can read any car, Hyundai only supports three of them. Two of them cost $2,000, while another costs $800. In addition, you also need a subscription to Hyundai’s J2534 diagnostic tool software, which costs a cool $60 per week. (A professional mechanic could justify paying a little more for a much longer subscription, but it doesn’t make sense for the DIYer.) Only then should you, in theory, be able to retract the rear caliper pistons, something I used to be able to do with nothing more than a large C-clamp. Except, you still can’t.
Security overreach
According to The Drive, a heading across the top of many of Hyundai’s technical documents says, “Access to Bi-Directional Tests and Special Functions require Diagnostic Professional or Vehicle Security Professional credential from NASTF.” According to its website:
The National Automotive Service Task Force (NASTF) is a 501 C6 not-for-profit organization established in 2000 by Automakers and the independent aftermarket to identify and resolve gaps in Service information, Tool Information and Training. NASTF has over 45,000 members in the US and Canada. In addition to acting as a liaison to automakers and repair technicians NASTF also runs the Secure Data Release Model providing credentials to technicians and locksmiths who require access to security related automotive information and systems.
Continuing onto NASTF’s page about its Scan Tool Security Validation Program:
For many years automakers have used the registry to authenticate security related transactions on their diagnostic applications. Aftermarket tool companies began using this process in 2024 to reduce vehicle theft using their tools as well as to discourage theft and illicit use of their tools from locksmiths and service professionals.
It’s already all too easy for thieves to swipe your car. Restricting security functions, such as programming keys, to verified professional shops and locksmiths makes perfect sense. But locking everyone but the pros out of basic maintenance functions, such as retracting an electronic parking brake, makes it impossible for non-professionals to do this simple repair job themselves. That’s not security for your car, but for dealers and larger shops with deep enough pockets to jump through these hoops.
Even if this were not the case, the $2,000 for a qualifying scan tool, or $5,582 for the official Hyundai scan tool (which is available to the public), would buy a lot of brake jobs, even at higher dealer prices. While a few people may be stubborn (and rich) enough to pay the price for these tools to keep their own cars under their own care, many will not. It’s not just Hyundai, either. Automakers are determined to pretend Right to Repair doesn’t exist for as long as possible, and security “features” like this may be one more way they’re doing that.
