California Lemon Law Blog

Ford Motor Co. is recalling more than 650,000 F-150 and Lincoln Mark LT pickup trucks because of a defective power brake assist hose, according to an article on Consumeraffairs.com . This recall covers 2005 and 2006 model trucks with the 5.4-liter engine. These vehicles are reportedly equipped with a brake hose that may swell over time causing the hose to become detached from the intake manifold, which means the brakes could require more pressure on the brake pedal, according to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA).

So far there have been reports of 11 minor accidents caused by these faulty brake hoses. No injuries have been reported in connection with these accidents. A majority of the recalled Ford trucks – about 600,000 – have been sold in the United States and about 50,000 were sold in Canada. Ford currently does not have the parts needed to complete the repairs to correct the defects, but dealers will replace the hose at no charge to customers when the recall begins. For more information about this recall, please call Ford at (800) 392-3673 or NHTSA at (888) 327-4236.

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A recent article in the Los Angeles Times by Ken Bensinger discusses the fairly recent popularity of “certified pre-owned” vehicles that are in the used car sales market and whether these cars are any more or less likely to end up being certified used car lemons.

In 2007, 1.6 million of these certified pre owned vehicles were sold in the United States. The majority of these automobiles are no more than 6 or 7 years old and have relatively low mileage. Most all of them carry extended warranties and are inspected by dealer mechanics to pass a factory checklist. Any necessary repairs and upgrades are then made. For this reason, the average CPO vehicle costs about $1700 more than a comparable one that isn’t certified.

The extended warranties on these vehicles is the main benefit of purchasing certified pre-owned vehicles. The warranties themselves, however, vary widely depending on the brand of car. BMW, for example, extends coverage to six years or 100,000 miles from the date the car was sold new, while Dodge offers only a three-month or 3,000 mile extension from the date the certified car was purchased.

“At the end of the day, what you’re buying is the warranty,” says Rob Gentile, a California used car fraud specialist at Consumer Reports.

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A recent article in the Los Angeles Times discusses the California Car Buyer’s Bill of Rights, a law passed in 2006 that lays out rules regarding the purchase of new and used automobiles that can help prevent California Used Car Fraud. Specifically, the article outlines the ‘return option’ as it applies to used cars. Under the car buyer’s bill of rights, consumers have the right to return a used car to the dealer that it was purchased from for a small fee (usually based on the price of the vehicle). For instance, a dealer can charge a maximum of $75 if the price of the car is $5,000 or less. There are loopholes, however, that could get you into hot water when you buy a more expensive used car. For example, did you know that cars that cost over $40,000 need not have a return policy at all?

The article also discusses the California lemon law and how it applies not only to new cars but also used ones. For example, a new vehicle returned to a dealer because it is a lemon can be sold as a used vehicle, but only if the buyer is informed it was bought back under California’s lemon law. These “Lemon law buyback” automobiles must be advertised as such. Notices must be posted on the autos specifying the vehicles problems and the work completed to resolve them. Additionally, the manufacturer must provide a 1 year warranty for these issues.

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