Issues
Garden Variety Lemon
Garden Variety Lemon An addition to the basic presumption; this creates a presumption that a vehicle is a lemon if a set number of any non-conformities occur, or if the vehicle is out of service due to non-routine repairs for a set number of days. It exists because some cars have parts fail from the…
Safety Lemon
Safety Lemon An addition to the basic presumption; this creates a lower threshold presumption that a vehicle is a lemon if the nonconformity is likely to cause serious bodily injury or death. It exists because a consumer should not have to risk their life multiple times for a safety defect. 20 states have this extra…
Applicable Period
Applicable Period This provision defines the time period when the required number of repair attempts or days out of service must occur to invoke the presumption that a vehicle is a lemon. It is important to note that the duty to refund or replace continues at least through the express warranty and is not limited…
Basic Presumption
Basic Presumption This provision in state lemon laws creates the basic presumption or qualification for lemon law relief by defining what constitutes a reasonable number of repair attempts or days out of service before a vehicle is presumed to be a lemon. The majority of state lemon laws provide that 3 repair attempts for a…
Lemon Law Rank Explanations and Examples
State Lemon Law Rankings: Scoring Category Definitions, Best and Worst States, and Exemplary Provisions Scoring Category Definitions Basic Presumption – This provision creates the basic presumption by defining what constitutes a reasonable number of repair attempts or days out of service before a vehicle is presumed to be a lemon. The majority of state lemon…
Kia, Hyundai to recall vehicles to fix problem that can cause fires
Jason Levine, executive director of the nonprofit Center For Auto Safety, said Kia limited the latest recall to a relatively small number of vehicles without adequate explanation, raising more questions than answers. He said some consumers have complained of fires in vehicles that weren’t included in the engine repair recalls. He also raised concerns about…
Expert Voices: The case for certifying AVs before they take to the road
By: Jason Levine, Executive Director of the Center for Auto Safety There are currently no performance standards against which manufacturers can self-certify autonomous vehicles, as they do for conventional cars and trucks. Until the adoption of such standards, one way to assess the safety of AVs would be a certification program that includes objective safety…
Virginia Woman Says Her Car Is Outside Recall Despite Same Defect
“Every repair and every recall is different, but unfortunately because there’s money involved, it costs manufacturers money to recall and repair vehicles,” said Jason Levine of the Center for Auto Safety. “They have an incentive to limit the span of the years or models involved in a recall.” He said it’s important for consumers who…
Safety Advocates Say Popular Cars Continue to Spontaneously Catch Fire
The nonprofit group Center for Auto Safety says it has counted 280 non-collision Kia and Hyundai fires. It’s been urging the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to investigate. “What they should be doing is opening a new investigation into why Kias and Hyundais are catching fire,” said Jason Levine, the executive director of the Center…
Reimagining federal safety standards
The regulatory and voluntary SAE processes for setting standards are better at achieving consensus than those of a splinter group, which raises questions about the Advanced Driving Systems Consortium’s motives, Jason Levine, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, said after being briefed by a reporter about the effort. “You can’t have it both…