(NewsNation) — Automotive “kill switches” have Republicans divided.
Fifty-seven House Republicans sided with most Democrats Thursday in a vote to keep the Biden-era “kill switch” rule, which shot down Kentucky Republican Rep. Tom Massie’s efforts to “kill” the “kill switch.”
Massie proposed an amendment to repeal the mandate that requires new cars to be able to shut off if it detects drunk driving.
“Federal law says new cars after 2026 must monitor drivers and shut down if the car disapproves. Your dashboard should not be judge, jury, and executioner,” Massie wrote on X.
The move to vote against Massie’s amendment has angered fellow conservatives, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“The idea that the federal government would require auto manufacturers to equip cars with a “kill switch” that can be controlled by the government is something you’d expect in Orwell’s 1984, and yet…” DeSantis wrote on X.
The amendment failed 164-268.
What is the ‘kill switch’ rule?
The Biden-era Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act compelled the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to set a rule requiring new cars to come equipped with the ability to detect drunk driving and to prevent it.
The bill required “advanced drunk and impaired driving prevention technology” in new cars by 2024. The technology would “passively and accurately monitor driver performance to detect impairment or passively and accurately measure driver blood alcohol concentration (BAC) (or both in combination) and prevent or limit vehicle operation if impairment is detected,” according to the law’s text.
The NHTSA has not issued such a requirement despite passing in 2024.
