Lemon Law
If you have purchased a car, truck, SUV, an appliance, computer or any other product covered under warranty that has had continual problems and been sent for repair multiple times, you may have a lemon on your hands, by legal standards. Fortunately, there are state and federal laws to protect these consumers who may be entitled to a replacement product or a financial settlement.
There is no cut and dry statement of what defines "lemon". The definition will vary depending on the state's lemon law and on the case itself. The best overall definition of a lemon is a motor vehicle that is purchased new and has caused the owner significant damages while still covered under warranty. Damages that have impeded the actual driving or affected the value or safety of the car and justified multiple repair attempts usually make for strong cases.
The core of most lemon laws is the manufacturer's breach of warranty.
Basically, if a consumer has a warranty on their vehicle and their defective vehicle has not been fixed after numerous repair attempts, the warranty has questionably been breached. A manufacturer's warranty is makes the manufacturer legally responsible for repairs to the consumer's vehicle.
If your vehicle does not qualify as a "lemon," you may still have recourse under the federal Lemon Law ( Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act) or other federal statutes. The federal Lemon Law provides for compensation to consumers of defective cars, trucks , SUV's and other vehicles and products including motorcycles, RV's, boats, computers and other consumer appliances and products. To qualify under the federal Lemon Law, you must generally have a product that suffered multiple repair attempts under the manufacturer's factory warranty.