If you’ve been scrolling X or other social media platforms lately, you’ve probably seen the outrage over the so-called “car kill switch” requirement.
A post from the John Birch Society on April 271 laid it out plainly: 57 House Republicans voted “no” on an amendment that would have blocked federal funding for a controversial mandate tucked into the 2021 federal infrastructure bill.2 The backlash was swift and furious especially from folks tired of Washington inventing new ways to watch us.
The root of all this is Section 24220 of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, signed in November 2021. It orders the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to create a new federal safety standard requiring every new passenger vehicle sold in the U.S. to include “advanced drunk and impaired driving prevention technology.” This tech has to work passively—no driver blowing into a tube or pushing buttons. It could use cameras, steering sensors, eye-tracking, or other tools to monitor your performance or blood alcohol concentration. If it flags impairment, the system must prevent or limit the vehicle from operating.
Of course the goal is to reduce the thousands of annual alcohol-related traffic deaths. NHTSA was supposed to finalize the rule by late 2024, with automakers complying a couple years later, potentially as early as model year 2027. As of early 2026, though, the agency admits in its latest report to Congress3 that suitable, reliable technology is not fully ready yet. No final rule has come into effect, and no new cars are required to have it currently.
But the problem is pretty clear for liberty-loving Americans. It’s mandating always-on surveillance in your private vehicles. Passive monitoring means cameras inside your vehicle, logging your every move, potentially sharing data to outside entities. Plus, what starts as “impaired driving” detection could expand to distraction, speed, or even political profiling down the road. And the costs will be passed on to consumers, further driving up an already expensive market. And NHTSA’s rule making and enforcement will eat up more tax dollars.
On January 22, 2026, during debate on the Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R. 7148), Rep. Tomas Massie of Kentucky offered H.Amdt. 155. The amendment was pretty straightforward: Ban any funds in that bill from implementing or enforcing Section 24220, including the “kill switch” tech. It failed 164-268.4 A solid majority of Republicans (160) backed it, but 57 crossed the aisle with Democrats to kill the defunding effort.5
Among those 57 “no” votes were two Texans—Rep. John R. Carter (TX-31) and Rep. Jake Ellzey (TX-6). Texans expect their representatives to fight mandates like this, not quietly fund them.
Fast-forward to late April 2026, and Rep. Chip Roy (TX-21) pushed an amendment during FISA reauthorization talks to strip funding and authority for the same mandate. He called it a “direct threat to personal freedom and privacy.”6 But the amendment never made it to a floor vote. A standalone repeal bill by Rep. Scott Perry (PA-10), H.R. 1137 (the No Kill Switches in Cars Act),7 was introduced in February 2025, but is still gathering dust in committee.
No one wants more vehicle deaths. But the answer isn’t top-down federal mandates and surveillance, it’s tougher enforcement of existing DUI laws and personal responsibility. This mandate risks turning every new car into a rolling surveillance machine, all while taxpayers foot the bill.
The 57 Republicans who voted against Massie’s amendment, including those two from Texas, need to hear from their constituents.
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- https://x.com/The_JBS/status/2048842553026547983?s=20 ↩︎
- https://www.congress.gov/117/plaws/publ58/PLAW-117publ58.pdf ↩︎
- https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.gov/files/2026-03/Report-to-Congress-Advanced-Impaired-Driving-Prevention-Technology.pdf ↩︎
- https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/202643 ↩︎
- https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/119-2026/h43 ↩︎
- https://x.com/chiproytx/status/2049498838235263330?s=20 ↩︎
- https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1137 ↩︎
