Lemon laws are on the books to protect consumers who buy cars in the marketplace. Basically speaking, the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act offers protection for car buyers. This legislation can be found in California Civil Code Section 1790 et seq., which says that if a car has a manufacturer’s defect, it is a lemon car. The car dealership will issue warranties on its new cars. According to the warranty, any car with a manufacturer’s defect is covered under that promise of a warranty. Used cars are also covered under the extended warranty coverage for a car, such as a “certified pre-owned” vehicle.
Lemon Vehicles Have Major or Minor Manufacturer’s Defects
If a car has a major or a minor manufacturer’s defect, it may be identified as a lemon car. Sometimes the defects can relate to the safety of driving the vehicle. If your car is determined to be a lemon car, the defect may cause you to have an accident. For example, if your car has an issue with a defective brake system, you may have an accident on account of the brakes not properly working when you need them to stop the car.
Warranties on New and Used Vehicles Protect the Consumers If the Car is a Lemon Car
The warranty that is accompanying a new and used car is meant to protect the consumers who buy these vehicles. If you buy a new or used car under warranty, you will be able to make a claim for a lemon car repair based on that warranty. For example, if you buy a car from someone on the side of the road, you may not have a warranty on your vehicle, even if it is brand new.
Warranties Are Promises Made by the Manufacturer to Fix a Lemon Car If It Is Defective
A warranty is a promise that a manufacturer makes to the consumer, that if the consumer’s new or used car under warranty has a defect, that the manufacturer will either repair or replace the car for the buyer. These warranties are good to have, and they give the consumer buy peace of mind. This helps the car buyer not feel as if he or she is standing alone, when their new or used car under warranty ends up having a manufacturer’s defect.
Some Defects Can Take Days, to Weeks to Months to Reveal
If you have a new or used car under warranty and it has a defect, that defect may not reveal itself right away. Unless your car has a recall on it from the manufacturer, you may not know that your car has a latent or hidden defect wrong with the vehicle. In the case of a latent defect, depending on your driving habits, you may not know for a long time that your car is defective. But that defect can be safety related, and could be a death trap for you when you are out driving your car out and about on the roadways.
“Help, My Car Was in a Fender Bender Accident, Can I Still Lemon My Car?”
Yes, even if your car was in a fender bender accident, you can usually still lemon out your car. This is because the defect may have caused the accident, and if it was a contributing factor, it does not negate your having a lemon car. If the defect related to your car was not the reason that you have had an accident, as in: the defect is unrelated to your accident, you may be able to lemon your car.
This is because fender benders are considered to be minor accidents with minor damage to a vehicle. If you had a small crash or a minor accident, that means that the car can be repaired. Any repair to the vehicle after a minor accident or fender bender, will get the car back to its original condition. That being said if the car is a lemon car, with an unrelated defect from the manufacturer, the fact that the car was in a fender bender does not negate that the car is a lemon car. For that reason, you should still be able to lemon your car, even if it was in a fender bender.
Common Defects of Lemon Cars on the Roads Today
There are many different types of car defects that can affect a lemon car. These defects can be in combination with other types of flaws associated with the vehicles and can include:
- Engine belts not operating properly
- Abnormal discharge from the exhaust
- Steering gear jams
- Drums or rotors too thin and defective
- Brake system leaking
- Suspension system damaged at ball joints
- Frame rusted or bent
- Cooling system inoperable
- Electrical system not working
- Shock absorber mounts loose or missing
- Fuel system leaks and damage
- Battery or starter defects
- Engine sudden stopping on the roads
If you have experienced any of these or other issues with your lemon car, just call us at Guardian Lemon Law Group at 888.341.8537 right now.We can go over your lemon claim, and review with you the next steps to initiating a lawsuit on the merits of your lemon car case.
Recent Victories in Lemon Law Cases
There are recent lawsuits and class actions that are springing up, that will give back money to consumers who have bought lemon vehicles. For example, in the case of some of the Ford Mach-E cars, there was a manufacturer’s defect that was identified in the high voltage battery contactor, whereby the car would suddenly stop on the roads and disable the engine. This action by the vehicle would put any driver in this car of suddenly losing power while driving on the highway. There would be the potential for serious and deadly accidents, as a result of a design defect that stopped the engine cold at normal highway rates of speed.
The Ford Motor Company did recall around 50,000 cars, and stopped their authorized dealers from delivering any more defective cars to the consumers. The National Highway Transit Safety Administration or NHTSA noted that consumers were complaining of this defect, to where the cars literally suddenly turned off in the middle of driving on the roads. In those cases, nothing could restart the car again, not even to move it safely off of the roads.
Class action litigation such as this one will continue to be initiated, when the car manufacturers will not take more responsibility for the cars that they mass produce on their assembly lines. We are here to help you if you have had a car that was in a fender bender, and then still needs to be declared and processed as a lemon car. Just call us at Guardian Lemon Law Group at 888.341.8537 right now.
Zero Fee Guarantee
We are prepared to offer to you zero-fee guarantee today, when you give us a call at the Guardian Lemon Law Group at 888.341.8537. Our legal team communicates with each other regarding the best strategies to get you the compensation in recovery money that you need, to be satisfied on winning this type of claim. Just call us today, and we can talk to you about your next steps right now.
Contact Us / Free Case Evaluation
You can call us today for a free case evaluation at the Guardian Lemon Law Group at 888.341.8537. Our legal team does keep abreast of changes in the lemon laws and knows what to do to initiate a lawsuit based on the merits of your lemon law claim. When you call, you will have access to a lawyer with experience in winning lemon law cases, and all that you have to do to start the process is call us today.
