The Lemon Law Blog

Car buyers in the market for a used car now have a powerful tool to protect against dealer fraud, title washing, sale of rebuilt wrecks and other deceptive practices. The National Motor Vehicle Titling Information System (NMVTIS), a nation-wide database of used vehicle history is up and running. Consumer advocates have fought for many years to establish such a national public database for used cars and trucks. The car industry fought back and successfully stalled the implementation of this important mandate for a long time. But the waiting is over.

Rosemary Shahan, the executive director of Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety and a tireless advocate for California drivers, emphasizes, "For used car buyers, this is the most valuable information, at the lowest price. Consumers should check this database first, then if they want more info, check Carfax and Experian. And of course ALWAYS get a vehicle thoroughly inspected by a trusted auto tech / body shop BEFORE agreeing to buy it."

Beginning in January 2010, every state now contributes to this valuable internet resource. Shahan is optimistic when she says, "Keep in mind that the national database has been receiving reports from over 8,000 insurers and junkyards, from all 50 states, and the data has to be updated every 30 days." The NMVTIS website itself cautions that it is only as good as its various sources, warning that there may be some variation in state reporting requirements. Although not foolproof, NMVTIS is an important step toward highway safety.

Even as Toyota struggles to find the source of sudden acceleration, the U.S. Department of Transportation is offering advice on what do to if sudden acceleration happens while you are driving. Until either the company or federal investigators discover what component is causing the problem, no advice is a sure thing. However, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has posted the following steps a driver might take to control the vehicle racing out of control.

Actions Consumers Can Take If They Cannot Stop Their Vehicles

Regardless of the cause, if a consumer is experiencing unintended acceleration intheir vehicle, they should take the following steps:
• Brake firmly and steadily – do not pump the brake pedal.
• Shift the transmission into Neutral (for vehicles with automatic transmissions and the sport option, familiarize yourself with where Neutral is – the diagram may be misleading).
• Steer to a safe location.
• Shut the engine off (for vehicles with keyless ignition, familiarize yourself with how to turn the vehicle off when it is moving – this may be a different action than turning the vehicle off when it is stationary).
• Call your dealer or repair shop to pick up the vehicle. Do not drive it.

You can find more information about sudden acceleration and other recalls here.

Car defects are less of a mystery than they used to be. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) provides a source of information useful to investigation of Lemon Law complaints that was not readily available to consumers before the Internet Age. This includes Technical Service Bulletins.

The California Lemon Law requires every auto manufacturer to have authorized repair shops in this state, to carry out the terms of its warranties. In the absence of exclusive authorized dealers, a manufacturer can designate independent dealers to satisfy this requirement of the Lemon Law. As a further measure of consumer protection, the law requires that auto manufacturers have to make replacement parts available and they have to make service literature available to instruct their dealers how to make repairs.

Thus Ford, GM, Chrysler, Toyota, BMW and all other car manufacturers maintain written instructions with regard to known defects, nonconformities and conditions likely to be the subject of requested repairs. These are called TSB’s, or Technical Service Bulletins. When we started representing consumers in the 1980s, it was very difficult to obtain these internal records. Even after lawsuits were filed, the car companies refused to give these up without court orders, making the litigation unnecessarily expensive. Now however, the Internet makes an enormous amount of information readily available through government and other sources. It is important to realize that these sources are often incomplete, and discovery in the course of litigation is still needed to supplement these investigative tools. Still, it is useful to see what is publicly available in the early stages of investigating a Lemon Law claim.

A single TSB may not give enough information to know whether a particular vehicle is a lemon or not; but information contained in service bulletins may provide useful for experts inspecting a vehicle; likewise, it may clarify, confirm or call into question a service manager’s claim as to whether a particular condition is known to exist.

You can find TSB's on the website of the Office of Defects Investigation division of NHTSA . Have your car or truck's year, make and model information handy. It is sometimes useful to have the actual VIN (vehicle idenitifcation number) as well. The NHTSA website also provides recall and other useful consumer information.