Yes, that too!
However, I want to correct the misconception that one needs an attorney for a Lemon Law case.
If someone follows the terms of his/her state’s Lemon Law statute to a “T”, and does all of his/her letter writing within the prescribed time limit, it is possible to succeed with one of these cases, sans outside legal assistance.
When my best friend had ongoing serious problems with his Toyota, I supervised the process and wrote the demand letters for him, and–at the 11th hour–Toyota sent both their Regional Service Supervisor and a Japanese engineer (who spoke almost no English) to the dealership, and after about 2 hours they were able to permanently resolve the issues that had eluded the “factory-trained” mechanics at the dealership on the preceding three visits.
As you may recall, I’m in litigation around my 2019 Accord, and although I have check-mark against every requirement of the state’ law, Honda just laughs and sends back “no, we will not honor your request”, certified mail, collected 4 of these already and now lawyer is handling the further communication, and it was her actually who said that she often sees her clients to be send on the endless chaise of communications until the time limit wears thin, as this is the main hope for the manufacturer to get you off their hair, so DIY is good initially, but if it does not work, you have to know your threshold where you involve a professional.
I guess that my legal training helped, in the case of my friend’s Lemon Toyota.
Even though I was “only” a Paralegal, my demand letters worked, and got the desired result without too much of a paper chase.
Or, perhaps Honda corporate is truly intransigent in comparison with Toyota corporate. Quien sabe?
I fully understand that many people have had great experiences with multiple Subarus and are very brand loyal. I drove Jeeps for almost 25 years, so I expected the Outback to be a walk in the park so far as service costs/reliability! I wanted another car that would last a decade. I do think I probably got a lemon, but didn’t think that I had truly qualifying complaints for a return in the first couple of months of ownership. I am willing to let them try to fix the problem, and to contact corporate to see if they have solutions. But I might be to the point… after trying those fairly simple steps …where I would rather cut my losses while this car is still “new” and try a different car.
my bet it is the later, from what I’ve heard before Toyota “cares” more…
Trust me, the arguments I brought up were bullet-proof, but Honda simply refused to comment on anything and provided only a blank refusal with zero justification.
Well, that–in addition to the reality that Honda’s quality has taken a significant hit over the past few years–convinces me that a Honda won’t be my next vehicle.
While I have no reason to choose a marque other than Subaru at this point, I would consider Honda if they had a model that really appealed to me. For instance, when they reintroduced their Passport model last year, I thought that I might want one, simply because Subaru has discontinued their six-cylinder engine, and the Passport has a six. Then, after reading the extremely disappointing comments about the Passport in Consumer Reports, I crossed that model off my list.
Until Honda can demonstrate that their quality has returned, that marque is off my list.
I will likely buy one of those turbo-4 models sometime over the next year or so–unless the reliability stats advise otherwise.
At this point, I could probably drive my flawless '11 Outback for many more years, but I’m not getting any younger, and I’m yearning to reward myself with a new car within the next 12 months.
As my mother used to say,
“There are no pockets in burial shrouds”.
So, my Subaru problem is a dead battery after leaving the tailgate open all day (with both overhead lights turned off.) It’s happened twice on camping trips. I’m getting kinda paranoid.
Once I get it started, I don’t even know how long to run the generator, because there doesn’t seem to be a voltmeter. The car will tell me tire pressure, which requires a separate system, but not system voltage, which the system already knows.
My friend wanted a remote starter installed on his new Rav, prior to delivery, and the dealership installed a genuine Toyota remote start system. Almost immediately, he began to experience all sorts of weird, phantom electronic problems. The clock would frequently re-set itself, and there were other electronic issues that I don’t recall the specifics of.
Each time that it was brought back to the dealership, they noted “condition not found” on the repair invoice. Finally, after Toyota acceded to my demand letter, the Regional Service Supervisor and a Toyota engineer found that the mechanic who had installed the remote start system had left it in “test mode” instead of putting it into regular operational mode. Once they identified and rectified the mechanic’s screw-up, the electronic problems all disappeared.
Part of the moral of the story includes the importance of having genuine manufacturer’s parts installed. The dealership had tried to talk my friend into the installation of a supposedly superior aftermarket remote starter (more expensive, and surely more profitable for the dealership).
If he had selected the aftermarket system, even if it was installed by the dealership, the Lemon Law process would not have been available to him. I had insisted that he buy the genuine Toyota system, and the fact that this “factory” part was installed on a brand-new car at the dealership prior to delivery meant that this was covered under the terms of NJ’s Lemon Law. He is still thanking me for insisting on the genuine Toyota remote start system instead of the aftermarket system.
Wow that’s bizarre that all those issues were happening. I had a backup warning sensor installed by the Toyota dealership. Luckily it went well. Thanks for the tip about the genuine Toyota system.