California Lemon Law


Wednesday, November 10th, 2010

California Lemon Law- How Accidents Can Affect a Case

At Norman Taylor & Associates we get inquiries about the lemon law every day. We always ask for the accident history. We do so because if the vehicle has been involved in an accident we know that the dealerships are going to try blame defects on the accident. We don’t argue that some accidents could cause defects that might otherwise be appropriate for a lemon law case.

Here’s one way the dealership tries to minimize their costs. You have a minor rear-ender. It barely scrapes the paint. Six months later you start having problems with the front suspension. The dealership refuses to repair the vehicle under warranty and recommends that you talk to your insurance agent. This or similar scenarios are surprisingly common. It is such an obvious scam.

Dealerships have warranty repair budgets, which because of the surprisingly poor quality of modern automobiles, keeps dealership repair facilities very busy. When the warranty repair budget is consumed the dealership has to eat the cost of repairs instead of billing the manufacturer. If the dealership can deflect the cost of a repair from their budget to the consumer’s insurance carrier, they may increase their profit margin. How motivated is the dealership to do this?

When a California lemon law lawyer analyzes a client’s repair documents, they watch for these situations carefully. We make every effort to determine how accidents might affect a lemon law case. We also know how dealerships play fast and loose with the truth. It is our business to know. If you have a lemon and the dealership is trying to blame the defects on an accident, contact a California Lemon Law attorney right away.

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Tuesday, November 9th, 2010

Lemon Law: Apples are not Oranges

A large part of the work of a California lemon law attorney is to review Service Orders and Work Orders. We see hundreds, even thousands of them every week. A lot of them are straight forward and make sense. Some however, defy belief.

Has this happened to you? You take your vehicle to the dealership with an engine or transmission problem. Let’s say the engine is making a knocking -clicking noise when the vehicle is sitting at idle. The first time you take it in for this defect the technician says he has performed all manner of tests and he cannot duplicate the defect. You say OK, but you know something is wrong.

By the way, it is not unusual for car owners to be remarkably patient with the dealership. You take the car home and sure enough the next morning when you start the car it’s knocking and clicking. You listen to your tubercular engine for a week or so and when you can’t stand it any more, you take it back to the dealership.

After a couple days fooling around the service person calls you and tells you your car is ready, please come on down and pick it up. You are ready to hear how they discovered something was wrong with the lifters and parts have been replaced and now the car is running fine; more importantly, no more knocking and clicking. The Service Writer gives you the Work Order. Here’s part of what it says. “We tested every way possible, then we compared it to two other like vehicles and they make the same noises. The noise is characteristic of this model. Nothing is wrong with your car.”

You think maybe you’ve been given the wrong Work Order. Surely they don’t expect you to believe this large pile of lawn supplements. But no, the Service Writer says that’s what they found with a straight face. The sheer illogic of it is mind-numbing. If what he asserts is true, then all of the same models as yours are defective in the same way.

You try to remember if the sales literature said anything about this noise that miraculously appears in all models of the same kind; nope, nothing there. You have a look through the technical description of the vehicle in the Operator’s manual; nothing there either. You know that Apples are not Oranges. Manufacturers are not going to try to sell vehicles that all have the same defect.

The particular example I am writing about has a good ending. The consumer continued to take the vehicle in for this defect and insisted that they find the problem and repair it. Wonder of wonders, somewhere around the fifth or sixth repair attempt the dealership repair facility discovered that the lifters were defective and made repairs. This was what was wrong all along and vindicated the consumer’s belief. If this happens to you, stay calm, do not commit any major felonies on the Service Writer. Just keep taking the car in for repair and if necessary, call a lemon law attorney to ensure that this foolishness stops once and for all.

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Monday, October 25th, 2010

Lemon Law News: VW Says, We Got Sludge, by Donald P. Ladew

What had been the other guy’s problem came home to roost in the author’s driveway the other day. I read this headline at Autoweek.com. “VW to cover maintenance costs for sludge damaged engines.” As you may have guessed, I am the owner of a VW Passat Wagon, and yes, it has the 1.8T Turbo engine. Unfortunately I cannot take advantage of this news. I can, however, comment about it.

Under the proposed settlement VW and Audi were compelled to pay maintenance costs in a class-action lawsuit over sludge-damaged engines in 479,768 VW and Audi models. According to court documents, the settlement affects 1997-2004 Audi A4 models and 1998-2004 VW Passat models with 1.8-liter turbocharged engines.

In 2002 I purchased a used 1998 VW Passat wagon. It had about 30K miles at the time. At 40K miles the engine coughed up a lung and stumbled to the side of the freeway wheezing like a dying carp. When I took it to the VW dealers, the technician poked around, advised the Service Writer who promptly told me it was my fault for using sub-standard oil. A year before my turbo died, I joined Norman Taylor and Associates. At the time, I was doing some research for Mr. Taylor’s second book Lemon Law The Standard Reference Guide.

I then suggested that the Service Writer was “less than accurate in his assessment of the defect”. If you read well between the lines, you probably understand I spoke firmly and colorfully allowing him to correctly understand what I thought of his assessment, personal habits and lineage. I also noted to him that I was an engineer and that I would be grateful if he would stop the baloney. While doing this I had my Lemon Law materials in my hand. The service writer, in an attempt to placate me, said he would discuss the situation with the Manager. This person came out to speak with me and said, because I was such a good customer—I wasn’t any such thing— he would speak to the District Representative from VW on my behalf. Ten minutes later he came out of his office all smiles to tell me that VW had agreed to replace my “sludged” turbo and pay all costs.

I knew from my California Lemon Law research that this is what we call a “Secret Warranty”. Better for VW to pay for the repairs than have me writing letters to NHTSA – The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. If enough people did this, a recall for the defective Turbos and associated parts might have been issued and then VW would have known serious financial pain.

What can we learn from this? Dealers aren’t always forthcoming about the real cause of defects. The threat of the Lemon Law isn’t always a deterrent to sleazy behavior from the manufacturers or dealerships. However, it does teach us to question what we are told and not hesitate to get advice from California lemon law attorney.

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Thursday, October 21st, 2010

Lemon Law: Stop Being so Darn Nice

Patience it is said is a virtue. However, there are limits. Exceeding these limits can definitely prevent the consumer from exercising their right under the California lemon law. Recently I analyzed a vehicle to see if it qualified for the Lemon Law and was astonished by the consumer’s patience. The following is a generic summary of the client’s defects and the dealership’s response.

  • 1st Repair Attempt: @ 3760 miles: When coming to a stop there is a delay before shifting then the transmission shifts. It feels like you have been rear ended. The dealer lists various tests and concludes: could not verify driver’s concern. In a subsequent discussion with the client, she said the Service Writer and others were condescending and told her perhaps she didn’t know how to drive a modern high performance vehicle.
  • 2nd Repair Attempt: @ 11,800 miles: When coming to a stop or slowing down in stop-and-go traffic there is a delay before shifting then the transmission kicks hard. No problem found.
  • 3rd Repair Attempt: @ 23,500 miles: When coming to a stop or slowing down there is a delay before shifting then the transmission delays and kicks hard. No problem found.
  • 4th Repair Attempt: @ 36,800 miles: When slowing down in freeway traffic there is a delay before shifting then the transmission kicks hard. The dealership stated they searched for a software update and wonder of wonders; they found one and installed new transmission control software. After each attempted repair they asserted that the vehicle was now operating as designed. With the defect still present at this point and in some cases sooner, the consumer should contact a California Lemon Law attorney.
  • 5th Repair Attempt: @ 41,200 miles: When coming to a stop or slowing down in stop-and-go traffic there is a delay before shifting then the transmission kicks hard. This time they said the transmission fluid was low and that they would replace it as a “Goodwill” gesture. Extraordinary kindness!
  • 6th Repair Attempt: @ 47,100 miles: the transmission seizes while parked at work and will not move from PARK to DRIVE. Now the dealership is compelled to actually perform repairs. They disassemble the transmission and replace the control unit. Before she leaves, the service writer asks, “Have you been driving this car very hard?”

This vehicle was taken in twice more for transmission defects before she finally called Norman Taylor & Associates for help. Her reasoning was that the dealership employees were willing to help. As noted the consumer could have made a case after the fourth repair at which time the mileage was still low. Here’s the bottom line. Enough is enough! Don’t wait! You gave the dealership all of the repair attempts they were entitled to under the law. If they cannot repair the car at that point, it’s time to seek recourse under the California lemon law.

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Tuesday, October 5th, 2010

Toyota Settles One Unintended Acceleration Lawsuit

So, Toyota settles what is considered by some to be the strongest “Sudden Acceleration” lawsuit amongst hundreds of individual and class actions law suits. Toyota asserts that this terrifying incident was caused by a problem with the floor mat. You heard correctly, the floor mat.

This was not a California Lemon Law case; it was a Wrongful Death case. No details of the settlement have been provided by the various news outlets from which we can infer that the settlement included a confidentiality clause. Although we don’t know this as a fact, we can also infer that no admission of liability was part of the settlement. How does this work? Do they shrug and say, “we’ll pay these folks some money, but it wasn’t our fault?
Having settled the lawsuit, Toyota then urged a US judge to dismiss all lawsuits over sudden acceleration claims stating that they are based on anecdotes and failed to identify any specific defects in the vehicles.

Just a thought; if there were no specific defects in all of these vehicles, why did Toyota fight so hard to prevent anyone from learning the contents of the black box (crash recorder) and its stored history? Trade secrets? Cough ($^&$) Cough. Just a thought! The black box had a software glitch which has been well-reported.

If you were one of the hundreds of other consumers who experienced the frightfulness of trying to stop a car out of control and then have Toyota tell you that your experience was just an anecdote! An anecdote is defined as a short account of an interesting or humorous incident. Interesting or humorous!! Norman Taylor & Associates has listened to many consumers who experienced sudden acceleration events having varying degrees of scariness. Never once were consumer’s experiences considered anecdotes.

So the Toyota saga continues. I keep waiting for them to man-up and do the right thing instead of grinding anyone who even suggests that they may be at fault into the legal dirt.

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Thursday, September 30th, 2010

California Lemon Law: What about My 1969 Dodge Charger?

Believe it or not, people call Norman Taylor & Associates for California Lemon Law help with cars that are old enough to be labeled classic or antique. In 1969 my hair was still black, and a lot longer. California Lemon Law did not exist.

There are different definitions for what qualifies a vehicle as classic. Most insurance companies consider your car is an antique or classic if it is at least 15 or 20 years old or older. The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) definition for a classic car differs from state to state. In general, a Classic Car is any vehicle older than 15 years while an Antique is 25.

If you want help with your 1969 Dodge Charger, I would recommend a very old and excellent mechanic or prayer. The lemon law just isn’t in the cards.

Here are a few things to get you into the right decade when applying the lemon law:

• Most new car (original) basic warranties vary from 3 years – 36K miles to 4 years – 50K miles. There are exceptions of course. This definitely puts lemon law in the latter half of the current decade.
• Lemon law is not just about the original warranty, some used cars may apply under the CA Lemon Law, if the original manufacturer’s warranty is still in effect or if the dealer provided you with a warranty for which you did not pay to obtain.
• Buying an “extended warranty” does not extend your warranty.
• The lemon law defines the average life of a car as 120,000 miles. Practically speaking the older the car the more difficult the lemon law case.

A word to the wise: If your car has 175K miles, we aren’t going to be able to help. If Richard Nixon was president when you bought your car, have it restored, it’s definitely a classic. If you have a 2008 Mercedes with 35K miles and the transmission bucks like bad-tempered horse, Norman Taylor & Associates is ready to help.

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Friday, September 10th, 2010

California Lemon Law: Read the Manual, Please!

A recent study by Schrader, a company that creates tire pressure monitoring systems, showed that one in three people did not recognize the tire pressure warning light. Owning a vehicle also requires that consumers make themselves aware of how to operate the vehicle and recognize these warning indicators; information that is included in the Owner’s Manual.

At Norman Taylor and Associates we speak to many consumers who seek information regarding California Lemon Law and whether or not the law may apply to them. Part of the review process requires a first hand account from the consumer which describes the problems he or she is having with the vehicle; this includes information on which warning lights were triggered at the time the defect occurred. Sometimes warning lights are triggered that provide more information as to which systems require attention. Sometimes warning lights will not be activated at all; this does not necessarily mean that a defect is not present.

What can happen if a consumer does not read the Owner’s Manual? The dealer and the manufacturer may take advantage of the consumer’s lack of knowledge to deny various kinds of service and repairs. What the consumer does not know may potentially harm their ability to seek recourse under the California Lemon Law.

The manual has explicit instructions on types of maintenance and schedules. If a consumer decides to ignore maintenance and later experiences engine defects, for example, the dealer can and will say; “This is a non-warrantable repair because the lack of maintenance caused the oil to sludge which destroyed the engine.” It will be very difficult for the consumer to make a good case against their assertions. Good records of regularly scheduled maintenance will stop that foolishness quickly. Part of ownership is being aware of how to operate the vehicle, how to care for the vehicle, and what to do if anything should go wrong.

What should have been written on the front of the Owner’s Manual is, “Ignore the contents of this manual at your peril.” Knowing what’s in your Owner’s Manual is no guarantee that you will make a successful California Lemon Law case but it will prevent you from sabotaging yourself in pursuing a possible case.

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Thursday, September 9th, 2010

CA Lemon Law: The Extended Warranty

Here is a typical (unfortunately), bit of information offered by a potential CA Lemon Law client calling Norman Taylor & Associates to get help with his defective motor vehicle. When we asked about the date of the first repair attempt the date he gave was after the original warranty had expired: We told him this and he said, “Oh, no problem, I have an extended warranty.” Listen closely! Did you hear a sigh of disgust and disappointment from the interviewer? This is important; the disgust was not aimed at the caller. That would definitely be the wrong target.

Here’s why I am annoyed, ticked off, disgusted. You can’t purchase any instrument, guarantee, warranty, whatever that will extend the original warranty on a car or truck. Write that on the palm of your hand please. When your original warranty – usually 3 years, 36,000 miles; sometimes more – is done, that’s it there isn’t any more.

For the manufacturer or dealer or both to suggest that if you buy an extended warranty your original warranty is somehow made longer, is just so much horse hockey. Please don’t ask me to explain horse hockey. If it did extend your warranty, it would have a significant effect on your ability to access the provisions of the CA lemon law. No manufacturer will ever willingly do that.

There are exceptions; with Certified Pre-owned vehicles the manufacturer will often authorize additional warranty, sometimes as much as up to 100,000 miles; but this is rare. Also, when the manufacturer knows that there is a serious defect with a specific vehicle – BMW and the High Pressure Fuel Pump for example – they will increase the warranty of that specific part of the vehicle. But you cannot buy additional original warranty.

When you buy an extended warranty you are buying MAINTENANCE INSURANCE. That is correct. It’s insurance. Most of the time if it is applied to a repair, you will have to pay the deductible. It may be $50, $100 or more and the maintenance insurance pays for the rest. It’s not that it’s a bad thing as long as you understand exactly what it covers.

It is just like your regular insurance. It has nothing to do with the original warranty! That is why it fills me with disgust and other less charitable feelings toward manufacturers and dealers. It is an error (some might say a crime) of omission. It’s what they don’t tell you. The California Lemon Law covers a lot of ground but the defects must begin within the original warranty. If you bought an “extended warranty” thinking you have the same rights for remedies under the CA lemon law as you did with your original warranty, think again. If you are not sure, all us and we will go through the whole process together.

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Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

California Lemon Law- Air Suspension Problems

When the air suspension fails the effects can be startling beyond what happens with an ordinary coil spring suspension system. Because these systems can adjust the suspension to three different ride heights another computer control system is required. This complex suspension control system is added to vehicles that are already over-burdened with software and computer modules.

Air suspension failures may range from delays while the system tries to figure out if the car is level to truly life-threatening defects. At Norman Taylor & Associates we interview consumers every day who are trying to cope with cars and trucks that just can’t be repaired who may have recourse under the California Lemon Law. An example on the scary side occurred to one of our clients recently. While driving on the freeway in the fast lane both right side elements of the air suspension sagged to the lowest ride height. Without warning the consumer was trying to drive a car that was leaning to the right. Just getting it over to the side of the freeway safely was more excitement than any one needs.

You might be surprised at how many models have an air suspension system installed. The following is a partial list. Not all manufacturers have air suspension systems on some of their models. As you can see, it is more often in use on higher end vehicles.

  • Rolls Royce
  • Lexus
  • Mercedes Benz
  • Land Rover
  • Audi
  • Lincoln

The kinds of failure are fairly predictable. At the heart of the air suspension system is a rubber airbag or bladder. Air bag or air strut failure is usually caused by wet rot, due to old age, or moisture within the air system that damages it from the inside. Air ride suspension parts may fail because rubber dries out. Punctures to the air bag may be caused from debris on the road.

Air line failure is a failure of the tubing which connects the air bags or struts to the rest of the air system. This usually occurs when the air lines, which must be routed to the air bags through the chassis of the vehicle, rub against a sharp edge of a chassis member or a moving suspension component, causing a hole to be formed.

Compressor failure is primarily due to leaking air springs or air struts. Note: To date this is the defect we have seen most often with lemon cars. The compressor will burn out trying to maintain the correct air pressure in a leaking air system. Compressor burnout may also be caused by moisture from within the air system coming into contact with its electronic parts.
This list is by no means everything that can happen. For example, as noted earlier, the chances that a software error can cause serious problems, has to be included.

We see it over and over, technology for the sake of technology, because it is a cool thing to do and gives the maker and opportunity to one-up the competition gets out of hand. It is too early to know whether this is a technology that is here to stay or just one of the technological flavors of the model year.

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Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010

California Lemon Law: Toyota Arrogance; Will it Never End?

Believe it or not, I was once a fan of Toyota and their manufacturing techniques. Toyota, like many other manufacturers in Japan, was taught quality techniques by an American Engineer and Statistician, Dr. W. Edwards Deming. Before worked I in the Lemon Law, I taught Dr. Deming’s quality techniques at manufacturing firms all through the nineties. Japan’s highest prize for quality is called the “Deming Prize”. I am not a Toyota fan any more.

This breaking news from an article in Automotive News is just one more example of corporate bad behavior. “Toyota spars in U.S. court over internal documents.” They do the same thing when we try to apply the California Lemon Law. They really bring new meaning to the expression “stonewall”.

It’s interesting and saddening to see a once great organization lose its way, to lose those characteristics that define is true strength. Toyota for many years was an icon of quality manufacturing. Some people say it is a natural phenomenon, the rise and fall of any organization, of civilizations, even of a country. It begins and ends with ethics. They began with the desire to hold the highest quality standard and ended in court. If I were a less positive person I could get depressed.

The California Lemon Law was enacted to bring ethical standards to an industry steeped in arrogance. They operated as though their size along gave them license to be contemptuous of the individual owner. This behavior will never win in the long run. Better to do the right thing than become another footnote in the history or manufacturing.

I would be really interested in how you who read this feel about this deplorable situation.

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