Trump’s Inaccurate Anecdote on ‘Right to Repair’ Cars
FactCheck.org — 2026-06-12 07:24:00 — www.factcheck.org
Trump Falsely Claims Mechanic Jailed for Seven Years for Fixing His Own Car
President Donald Trump has repeatedly cited a wildly inaccurate anecdote to support his stance on the “right to repair” debate, claiming that a man was sentenced to seven years in jail simply for fixing his own car. In remarks on June 4, Trump stated, “They gave a man seven years in jail, actually, because he fixed his own car.” He reiterated the claim the following day at a Wisconsin agriculture roundtable, asserting, “I pardoned a man last week who was sentenced to seven years in jail because he got caught fixing his car or his truck.”
However, the facts do not support Trump’s story. The case he referenced appears to be that of Troy Lake, a Wyoming diesel mechanic who was pardoned by Trump on November 7. Lake served seven months of a one-year sentence—not seven years—after pleading guilty to violating the Clean Air Act by disabling emissions monitoring systems on hundreds of commercial trucks. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Lake and his company, Elite Diesel Service Inc., orchestrated a large-scale conspiracy to tamper with emissions controls, resulting in significant illegal pollution.
Lake was not prosecuted for merely fixing his own vehicle, but for intentionally disabling federally mandated emissions equipment on at least 344 trucks, causing an estimated 1,300 tons of excess nitrogen oxides and other pollutants. The case involved multiple co-conspirators and substantial fines, and was not simply about the right to repair a personal vehicle.
Despite Trump’s claims that Democrats want to jail people for fixing their own vehicles, no such law exists. The “right to repair” debate is more nuanced, focusing on consumers’ ability to repair their own products or choose independent repair shops, particularly as modern vehicles become more reliant on proprietary software and telematics.
Trump’s repeated false statements misrepresent both the facts of the Lake case and the broader right to repair issue, exaggerating the consequences and incorrectly attributing blame to political opponents. This pattern of distortion highlights the importance of fact-checking claims made in high-profile policy debates.
Conclusion
President Trump’s anecdote about a mechanic jailed for seven years for fixing his own car is not supported by the facts. The actual case involved criminal tampering with emissions controls, not simple repairs, and the sentence was far shorter than Trump claimed. The right to repair debate remains complex, but Trump’s statements have significantly misrepresented both the law and the reality faced by consumers and mechanics.
Source: https://www.factcheck.org/2026/06/trumps-inaccurate-anecdote-on-right-to-repair-cars/