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Posted on 01/27/2026 5:27:02 AM PST by Twotone
A little-noticed federal mandate could take control of your car in the name of safety — and lawmakers in both parties have declined to block it.
The federal government is moving closer to giving your car the authority to decide whether you are allowed to drive — without a warrant, without due process, and with no guaranteed way to reverse the decision once it is made.
And it is happening not because of one party alone, but because Congress, across party lines, has failed to stop it.
It's no accident that all this happened quietly. It was written into law under the Biden administration’s 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, buried deep in Section 24220 — a provision few lawmakers publicly debated, but one that now threatens to fundamentally alter the relationship between Americans and their vehicles.
Section 24220 directs the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to mandate “advanced drunk and impaired driving prevention technology” in all new passenger vehicles. In plain terms, it requires systems that continuously monitor drivers and can prevent a vehicle from operating if impairment is suspected. No breath test is required. No police officer is involved. The judgment is made by software.
Once flagged, a vehicle may refuse to start or restrict operation. Here is the most troubling part: Federal law provides no clear process for getting out of that lockout. There is no required appeal. No mandated reset timeline. No human review. Drivers can find themselves trapped in what critics have begun calling “kill switch jail,” with no guaranteed path to restore access to their own car.
This is not targeted enforcement. It applies to every driver, every time, regardless of driving history.
That alone should raise constitutional alarms.
Drunk driving laws already exist — and they work. Ignition interlock devices have long been required for convicted offenders, and there are 31 approved interlock systems currently in use nationwide. Those systems require a breath sample and are imposed only after due process. Section 24220 discards that proven, targeted approach and instead subjects all drivers to pre-emptive punishment, including those who do not drink at all.
To comply with the mandate, automakers may choose from a range of technologies: driver-facing cameras that track eye movement and head position; software that analyzes steering, braking, and lane-keeping behavior; or touch-based alcohol sensors embedded in the steering wheel or start button. None of these systems determine guilt. They calculate probability — and then deny access.
False positives are inevitable. Fatigue, prescription medications, medical conditions such as diabetes or neurological disorders, and even stress can trigger impairment alerts. Shift workers, caregivers, parents, and first responders are especially vulnerable. When the system is wrong, the consequences are immediate — and the driver has no guaranteed recourse.
This is not a passive safety feature like an airbag. It is a government-mandated, pre-emptive denial of mobility enforced by an algorithm.
Despite growing concern, Congress has chosen not to stop the mandate, with Democrats largely supporting continued funding and a number of Republicans also voting to keep the program intact.
In January 2026, the House voted on an amendment offered by Republican Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky that would have blocked funding for NHTSA’s implementation of Section 24220. That amendment failed, allowing the mandate to continue moving toward full enforcement.
Supporters argue the technology does not allow government agents or police to remotely shut down vehicles. While that may be technically true today, the mandate still requires continuous driver monitoring. Once that hardware becomes standard across the national vehicle fleet, expanding its use becomes a political decision — not a technical limitation.
Privacy and cybersecurity risks only deepen the concern. Any system capable of denying vehicle operation must meet extraordinarily high standards of accuracy and security. Those standards have not been proven at national scale. A malfunctioning or compromised system could strand drivers during extreme weather, medical emergencies, or in remote locations.
Cost is another unavoidable consequence. Vehicles are already becoming unaffordable for many Americans. Adding cameras, sensors, software, and compliance infrastructure will only accelerate price increases and reduce consumer choice. Drivers who want simpler, more reliable vehicles will have fewer options — because mandates do not allow opting out.
Proponents often compare this mandate to seatbelts or airbags. That analogy fails. Seatbelts do not prevent you from driving. Airbags deploy after an accident. This system intervenes before any wrongdoing occurs, based on assumptions rather than certainty, and enforces compliance by denying access altogether.
This is not about defending drunk driving. It is about stopping a government overreach that treats every driver as a suspect and hands control of personal mobility to software.
If Americans want to prevent this future, Section 24220 must be defunded — before “kill switch jail” becomes the default setting for the next generation of cars.
The following are the Republican members who voted against the amendment to block funding for NHTSA’s implementation of Section 24220:
Mark Amodei (Nev.-02) French Hill (Ark.-02) Max Miller (Ohio-07) Don Bacon (Neb.-02) Jeff Hurd (Colo.-03) Mariannette Miller-Meeks (Iowa-01) Stephanie Bice (Okla.-05) Brian Jack (Ga.-03) Blake Moore (Utah-01) Gus Bilirakis (Fla.-12) John James (Mich.-10) Tim Moore (N.C.-14) Mike Bost (Ill.-12) David Joyce (Ohio-14) James Moylan (Guam-A.L.) Ken Calvert (Calif.-41) Thomas Kean Jr. (N.J.-07) Greg Murphy (N.C.-03) John Carter (Texas-31) Mike Kelly (Penn.-16) Dan Newhouse (Wash.-04) Tom Cole (Okla.-04) Jen Kiggans (Va.-02) Zach Nunn (Iowa-03) Mario Diaz-Balart (Fla.-26) Kevin Kiley (Calif.-03) Hal Rogers (Ky.-05) Neal Dunn (Fla.-02) Young Kim (Calif.-40) Maria Elvira Salazar (Fla.-27) Chuck Edwards (N.C.-11) Kimberlyn King-Hinds (Northern Mariana Islands-A.L.) Mike Simpson (Idaho-02) Jake Ellzey (Texas-06) Darin LaHood (Ill.-16) Elise Stefanik (N.Y.-21) Randy Feenstra (Iowa-04) Nick LaLota (N.Y.-01) Glenn “GT” Thompson (Penn.-15) Randy Fine (Fla.-06) Mike Lawler (N.Y.-17) Mike Turner (Ohio-10) Chuck Fleischmann (Tenn.-03) Frank Lucas (Okla.-03) David Valadao (Calif.-22) Vince Fong (Calif.-20) Nicole Malliotakis (N.Y.-11) Derrick Van Orden (Wis.-03) Brian Fitzpatrick (Penn.-01) Celeste Maloy (Utah-02) Rob Wittman (Va.-01) Andrew Garbarino (N.Y.-02) Brian Mast (Fla.-21) Steve Womack (Ark.-03) Carlos Gimenez (Fla.-28) Dan Meuser (Penn.-09) Ryan Zinke (Mont.-01)
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Looks like I’m gonna keep buying old cars...
CC
A whole industry will pop up...like those that take all the environmental crap off their diesel trucks today, a shop will pop up and you’ll roll your car in and have the thing bypassed.
Yep, I will just allot 2 grand extra when I buy a new car for someone to provide a bootleg software that removes that totalitarian garbage
Wait until geofencing and social credit scores are in place.
This will make used car prices skyrocket more than they did from obama’s “cash for clunkers” program.
They’ll make that ‘illegal’ to do.
State safety inspections will check operation.
“A whole industry will pop up...like those that take all the environmental crap off their diesel trucks today, a shop will pop up and you’ll roll your car in and have the thing bypassed.”
Nailed it. There were plenty of workarounds for the effing liberal-caused stop-start offal.
We’ll get around this. Perhaps we can convert the electronics to do the multiple electric chair controls we’ll need when we finally get around to dealing with DemocRATz.
People are going to find out that GEOFENCING is a very REAL THING
and will affect almost everything that they can do (’1984’ eventually)
In many ways ‘1984’ is ALREADY here
-———666————
The Plan is to Lock Up Humanity in Digital Smart Cities (CBDC, Facial Recognition, GEOFENCING) (SHORT VIDEO 1:27 long)
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/4329921/posts
Geofencing: “Think of it as an invisible fence around you... that will be related to your face recognition, digital identity, and access control”
Big Tech whistleblower Aman Jabbi exposes the digital prison being constructed all around us in this clip from The Agenda: Their Vision Your Future.
Cost me $100 to bypass auto start/stop.
Brings new meaning to, “Your Mileage May Vary.”
Snake Randy Fine the Trump
Maga Traitor in FL voted for this .
I wont be voting fir this snake this year .
If Trump and that idiot Gop Speaker want to lose the midterms .
Quietly ramming this thru with the Dems
tells me Trump and the Gop all want Left wing Big Brother Govt .
Not my '68 Power Wagon. :-)
I would add that the demands of working on rough terrain on dirt can lead to erratic eye movements, such as backing up with a load to dump or maneuvering a trailer in tight spaces. I just don't see software getting it right.
Same here, and it was totally worth it to make that stupid button a persistent on/off toggle, which is how it should have been designed in the first place.
How about a “ switch” to shut down feral morons who protest, oh yea,,, that would be for conservative protestors only, you know to stop an insurrection.
The new industry will be keeping cars running longer than in Havana.
Well, i’m gonna install crank
Right on.
Those are just conspiracy theories. Besides, what are you trying to hide, anyway? (sarc)
There’s something fundamentally wrong with out society; megalomaniacal control freaks have been handed the reins.
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