Report Title:

Motor Vehicles

 

Description:

Requires motor vehicle manufacturers to allow registered owners through a registered locksmith to access information necessary to produce replacement keys.  (SB1011 HD1)

 


THE SENATE

S.B. NO.

1011

TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007

S.D. 1

STATE OF HAWAII

H.D. 1

 

 

 

 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

RELATING TO MOTOR VEHICLE KEY INFORMATION ACCESS.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 


     SECTION 1.  The legislature finds and declares the following:

     (1)  There are over five hundred thousand registered motor vehicles in Hawaii, and those motor vehicles are an essential part of Hawaii residents' work and mobility;

     (2)  A key or functionally similar device that allows a motor vehicle's registered owner to enter, start, and operate the motor vehicle is a critical and necessary part of motor vehicle ownership, without which a person cannot perform the basic functions of gaining entry to a motor vehicle or starting its engine; and

     (3)  A registered owner of a motor vehicle has the right to access the information necessary to gain entry to and operate the motor vehicle in a timely, convenient, and reliable manner.

     It is the intent of the legislature to give motorists better access to this necessary information, while at the same time protecting the security of that information and the motor vehicle. 

The purpose of this Act is to allow appropriate motor vehicle security while providing essential and necessary consumer access.

     SECTION 2.  Chapter 437, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

     "§437-    Replacement motor vehicle keys or other functionally similar devices; twenty-four-hour availability; exemption.  (a)  For the purposes of this section, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

     "Family member" means any individual who is a member of the immediate family of the registered owner, including the registered owner's spouse, child, parent, grandparent, or any related individual who resides in the same household as the registered owner.

     "House car" means a motor vehicle originally designed, or permanently altered, and equipped for human habitation, or to which a camper has been permanently attached.

     "Information" includes, but is not limited to, the motor vehicle's key code and, if applicable, immobilizer or access code, and its successor technology and terminology.

     "Locksmith" means a natural person who provides the services of origination of a key, opening modification, rekeying, recombination, repair or installation of a mechanical or electronic access or locking device.  "Locksmith" does not include tow truck operators who do not originate keys for locks and whose locksmith services are limited to motor vehicles.

     "Manufacturer" means any person, resident or nonresident, who is engaged in the business of manufacturing or assembling new motor vehicles or a designated agent by contract.

     "Motor vehicle" means a passenger vehicle as defined in section 437-1.1 and a pickup truck, and does not include a house car, a motorcycle as defined in section 286-2, or other two-wheeled motor vehicle.

     "Pickup truck" means a motor vehicle designed, used, or maintained primarily for the transportation of property with a manufacturer's gross vehicle weight rating of less than eleven thousand one hundred pounds, an unladen weight of less than eight thousand one pounds, and which is equipped with an open box-type bed not exceeding nine feet in length.  "Pickup truck" does not include a motor vehicle otherwise meeting the above definition that is equipped with a bed-mounted storage compartment unit commonly called a "utility body".

     "Registered locksmith" means a locksmith who has undergone a background check by a nationally recognized association, is bonded in the state, and has registered with a manufacturer and has been issued a registry number and security password by the manufacturer.

     "Registered owner" means "owner" as defined in section 286-2, and also includes a lessee of the motor vehicle when the lessee's name appears on the motor vehicle registration.

     (b)  Except as provided in subsections (j) and (k), this section applies only to new motor vehicles sold or leased in the state after December 31, 2007. 

     (c)  A manufacturer of a motor vehicle sold or leased in the state shall provide the means whereby the registered owner of that motor vehicle, through a registered locksmith, can access only the information that is necessary to permit the production of a replacement key or other functionally similar device by the registered locksmith that will allow the motor vehicle's registered owner to enter, start, and operate the motor vehicle.  The means to access this information, as provided in subsections (d) to (f), shall be available by telephone or electronically twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week.

     (d)  When a registered locksmith is requested by the motor vehicle's registered owner or the registered owner's adult family member to produce a replacement key or other functionally similar device that will allow the motor vehicle to be entered, started, and operated, and the information is needed from the manufacturer in order to produce the requested key or other functionally similar device, the registered locksmith shall:

     (1)  Obtain the name; address; telephone number, if any; date of birth; and driver's license number or identification number of the person requesting or purchasing the key;

     (2)  Obtain the registration or identification number, license number, year, make, model, color, and vehicle identification number of the motor vehicle for which the key is to be made;

     (3)  Visually verify the identity of the requesting party through that party's driver's license;

     (4)  Visually verify that the registration of the motor vehicle matches the requesting party's identity and address (or address if the requesting party is an adult family member of the registered owner); and

     (5)  Visually verify that the vehicle identification number of the motor vehicle matches with the vehicle identification number on the registration.

The information required by paragraphs (1) and (2), together with the date the key was made and the signature of the person for whom the key was made, shall be set forth on a work order, and upon satisfactory verification of the three requirements set forth in paragraphs (3) to (5), the registered locksmith shall sign an affidavit that the locksmith has visually verified the information, and proceed to access the needed information from the manufacturer.  Copies of the orders and affidavits shall be retained by the registered locksmith for two years, include the name of the registered locksmith performing the service, and

be open to inspection by any law enforcement officer during business hours.

     (e)  Upon completing the services, the registered locksmith shall give any key code information obtained from the manufacturer to the registered owner, or if applicable, the owner's adult family member, and shall destroy all information accessed from the manufacturer in the locksmith's possession.

     (f)  After a request is received from a registered locksmith for information to enable the registered locksmith to produce a replacement key or other functionally similar device that will allow the motor vehicle to be entered, started, and operated, and that request is made at the request of the motor vehicle's registered owner or the registered owner's adult family member, the manufacturer shall:

     (1)  Require the registered locksmith to confirm the locksmith's registration with the manufacturer's registry;

     (2)  Provide the security password issued by the manufacturer, and comply with any other reasonable authentication procedure; and

     (3)  Require the registered locksmith to confirm the registered locksmith's visual identity and motor vehicle verifications, pursuant to paragraph (1).

Upon satisfactory verification of these requirements, and upon presentation of the vehicle identification number and model number, the manufacturer shall provide to the registered locksmith, for the motor vehicle identified by the vehicle identification number and model number, the information necessary to enable production of a replacement key or other functionally similar device that allows the motor vehicle to be entered, started, and operated.

     (g)  Except in cases of fraud or misappropriation, a registered locksmith who follows the procedures set forth in this section shall incur no liability for theft of the motor vehicle related to the registered locksmith's production of a replacement key or functionally similar device that will allow the motor vehicle to be entered, started, and operated.

     (h)  A manufacturer subject to this section shall retain and make the information available in accordance with this section for not less than twenty-five years from the date of manufacture.

     (i)  A manufacturer that follows the procedures set forth in this section shall incur no liability for theft of the motor vehicle related to furnishing the information to a registered locksmith for the production of a replacement key or functionally similar device that will allow the motor vehicle to be entered, started, and operated.

     (j)  This section shall not apply to a vehicle line of a motor vehicle manufacturer that on January 1, 2007, does not provide for a replacement key or other functionally similar device that allows the vehicle to be entered, started, and operated, to be produced by anyone other than the vehicle manufacturer itself; provided that the vehicle manufacturer operates a telephone or electronic request line twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week, and upon a request of the registered owner or adult family member of the registered owner of the vehicle, a replacement key or other functionally similar device that will allow the vehicle to be entered, started, and operated, is furnished to the registered owner at a reasonable cost within one day of the request or via the next overnight delivery.  If, subsequent to December 31, 2007, a vehicle line of a manufacturer exempted by this subsection provides for the production by anyone other than the vehicle manufacturer itself of a replacement key or other functionally similar device that will allow the vehicle to be entered, started, and operated, this section shall apply to that vehicle line.

     (k)  This section shall not apply to a make of a motor vehicle that sold fewer than one hundred vehicles in the state during the calendar year immediately prior to the time the request for a replacement key or other functionally similar device is made by the motor vehicle's registered owner or the registered owner's adult family member pursuant to this section."

     SECTION 3.  If any provision of this Act, or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity does not affect other provisions or applications of the Act, which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this Act are severable.

     SECTION 4.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 5.  This Act shall take effect on January 1, 2050; provided that section 437-  (j), Hawaii Revised Statutes, in section 2 of this Act shall be repealed on January 1, 2013.