Congress quietly passed an Orwellian regulation during former President Joe Biden’s term requiring all new cars to feature a “kill switch,” raising the alarm among some Republicans — but not all of them.
Republicans like Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, Texas Rep. Chip Roy, and Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry have led the charge in the House to scrap the invasive regulation, calling it “impractical” and “Orwellian.” Yet in the most recent January vote to reverse the regulation, 57 Republicans joined nearly every Democrat to mandate that every 2027 model car have a kill switch.
This feature would use technology to assess the driver’s performance and determine whether they are impaired. If the car determines the driver is unfit to be behind the wheel, the kill switch would shut the car off, raising concerns about safety, surveillance, and implementation. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: ‘Kill Switch’ Amendment Could Shake Up The Capitol Hill FISA Fight)
“This is why we lose, the uniparty,” Massie told Tucker Carlson in a recent interview. “I can’t get 218 people to take this provision of law out of law.”
(Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
The regulation became law under Biden after Congress passed the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Since then, Massie has led two failed votes to counter the regulation originally intended to curb drunk driving.
One of the most powerful lobbying groups responsible for pushing the regulation is Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), a non-profit founded in 1980 by Candace Lightner after her 13-year-old daughter was killed by a drunk driver.
Although the regulation is intended to minimize tragedies caused by drunk driving, lawmakers have raised concerns about its actual implementation. The language is technology-neutral, meaning it’s up to the car manufacturer to design and install a range of systems like sensors that assess driving, cameras that track the driver’s eyes, and self-driving software.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) also proposed several technologies to assess if a driver is impaired, including a touch sensor that measures alcohol concentration using a touchpad on the car’s steering wheel or ignition switch. This sensor uses infrared spectroscopy to detect alcohol concentration in the capillary blood in the skin of the driver’s hand.
Another proposed technology is a breath sensor that passively measures a driver’s exhalations to distinguish from potentially intoxicated or impaired passengers.
“This passed in the name of trying to prevent people from driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs,” Roy said in an interview with Glenn Beck. “But the issue is that means you’re putting expensive technology, upwards of several thousand dollars, increasing the cost of automobiles, into a car that is surveilling you, by definition.”
“You are effectively putting cameras in your car to track your movements, track what you’re doing, and no doubt record what you’re doing, and then ultimately for it to be used against you,” Roy added.
(Photo by Graeme Sloan/Getty Images)
Several civil rights organizations also raised concerns about user privacy back in 2024, calling for data storage to be minimized, contained, and transparent. In a joint letter to the NHTSA, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) demanded “airtight privacy protections.”
“Any technology that fulfills the Congressional mandate will likely collect sensitive data about drivers’ bodies,” the letter reads. “That may include physiological data unrelated to intoxication level, as well as the fact that a person was intoxicated and tried to drive. No potentially invasive technology should be implemented that doesn’t strongly protect sensitive data. A poorly designed system could become a privacy nightmare.”
When reached for a comment, a spokeswoman for the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) told the Daily Caller, “Unfortunately, [we] don’t have anyone who has read up on this and is able to comment.” On its home page, CDT prides itself as the “leading nonpartisan, nonprofit organization fighting to advance civil rights and civil liberties in the digital age.”
This technology is still in its infancy, and questions of efficacy and application are still top of mind for lawmakers. But beyond logistical concerns, opponents of the kill switch are warning that the real reason Republicans have supported the regulation is because of government overreach. (RELATED: GOP Rift Erupts After 57 Republicans Work With Democrats To Protect ‘Orwellian’ Way To Shut Off Cars)
“Why do they hate me in the swamp? Why do they want me gone? Because part of the coalition is people who don’t want transparency,” Massie said. “Because twice I’ve forced that vote. Twice, they have stood there and taken the wrong vote against their constituents, against the constitution, for a dystopian future, and now they’re outed. You can go look at that list.”
“But you can’t do that if I’m not there, because who’s going to force that vote to happen?”