Anyone know anything about lemon laws? The vehicle was purchased new in 2005, has had 9 recalls which required rental vehicles for at least half of the fixes, one recall had the car at the dealer for over a month. All recalls were covered by warranty. The car has only 35,000 miles oon it now. All recalls were different problems, like bad CATs, ECU failure, intake removal & gasket change, suspension safety upgrades, battery failure, replacement of a starter, and so forth. It’s my understanding that to qualify as a lemon law vehicle the same problem has to be fixed three times, reported to the dealer within the first year/12,000 miles. Anybody have any experience with this area? Rocketman
I think you have the basic understanding of the lemon law but the problem is the law can vary from state to state. You need to find out what your state laws are.
You have to check with your state. Lemon laws are very very different from state to state. You should also have a booklet that the dealer gave you when you purchased the car about Lemon Laws.
Good idea Mike . . . I’ll look through that stuff. Thanks! Rocketman
I agree with all of the preceding posts, but I also have to say that I seriously doubt that you are entitled to a settlement in any state.
Recalls notwithstanding, you give us no indication that any problems remained after the recalls and warranty repairs. A Lemon Law settlement has to do with problems that are not resolved after several attempts (usually three).
So, a vehicle that has one problem that is recurring and has not been fixed will usually qualify for settlement within the stated time period (usually 12-18 months of purchase). Conversely a vehicle that has a multitude of problems/recalls/warranty repairs is not eligible for settlement as long as the problems have been resolved within the set parameters.
i thought there was a clause if the vehicle was in their posession for X amount of days, (either a percentage of ownership, or days counted)
again, it probably depends on the state
Conversely a vehicle that has a multitude of problems/recalls/warranty repairs is not eligible for settlement as long as the problems have been resolved within the set parameters.
Some states have a provision that state if the car has been out of service for a certain percentage of time then it’s eligible for the Lemon Law. Or that you’ve had many problems over a period of time…Each state is different.
Nine recalls?! What kind of car? I want to make a note of it in my “Used Cars I’m Probably Not Going To Want To Buy” file.
I’m with riggyrow here… what vehicle was this?
I pulled NHTSA’s recall database and the only '05 or '06 vehicles I could find with recalls referring to cats were Acura RLs, TLs, and Ford Crown Victorias / Police Interceptors… and none of these 3 vehicles had anywhere near 9 recalls listed.
If you do decide to have the car determined to be a “lemon” you will have an uphill battle. Manufacturers argued everywhere lemon laws were debated that there was not a problem that could not be corrected.
It’s my Mazda RX-8 . . . I have not checked the database but can tell you that I have the recall # and correspondence from Mazda right here. Big disappointment Rocketman
Click on Joseph’s link above. In MD, for instance, you can have the car in the shop for more than 30 days in the first year for any problem and qualify. It also allows a claim during the warranty period, not just the first year. The state statue is provided as well so that you can decide if you have recourse.Don’t expect to get a new car, but do expect to get the problems fixed. I had a Lemon Law claim with Ford on a 1996 Taurus. When the dealer saw that they had just one more shot, they did everything they could to fix it. And it was fixed.
The JD Power website has links to the various lemon laws.
I can certainly understand an RX-8 being a big disappointment. Rotary engines, while a fantastic-sounding idea, have always been trouble.
But for a 2005 Mazda RX-8, I still can find just 1 recall… for all RX-8s of all years, I can find just 4 (fewer recalls than the new generation Civic had in its first year)…
I’m intriegued by the list. Historically Wenkle engines developed a reputation for problems with the sealing of the apex seals, however with the possible exception of the Cat converter problem the things on the OP’s list are all things that aren’t related to the rotary engine.
I thought that maybe “recall” wasn’t the right term . . so I pulled the service records . . . the service in each repair was done under a recall # Lower control arm . . . insulator to electrical system . . . moisture in both tail light assembly . . . ventilation kit to crankcase (milky oil) . . . no-start (starter) . . . no-start plugs and wires . . . no-start (battery) two times, once at 100 miles, second time at 30k . . . check engine light required replacement of both CATs . . . ECU failure . . . and most recently the intake issue which will require pulling the engine, change the intake and gasket . . ALL have a recall # on the service invoice, none of which I received a formal notice in the mail, just based upon customer complaint and free fix by the dealer. On the other hand . . . it runs, handles, rides like a dream . . . getting better MPG than EPA, really a nice car. But this is a little much . . . don’t you think? At 35,000 miles? I’m meeting with a lemon law lawyer next week (the car is going in for the most recent service on Monday AM. Glad to have my old Honda (an 89 with 455,000 miles) Rocketman