This is not true for the new Rinspeed sQuba which is scheduled to be displayed at the Geneva auto show in March 2008. At a push of a button, the sQuba changes from a land vehicle to an amphibious one. The sQuba is driven electrically, propelling the rear wheels while on land with a 37 kW engine and with two stern propellers and two bow jet drives while underwater. It is also ‘futuristic’ in that some components are made of carbon nano tubes and it is a zero emission vehicle. It has a maximum depth of about 33 feet. Unfortunately, no speed/performance data is currently being advertised.

Frank Rinderknecht, the CEO of Rinspeed admits that some of the inspiration for the sQuaba came from the classic James Bond movie “The Spy who loved me” which featured an aquatic-adaptable Lotus. Unfortunately, currently there are no plans to mass produce the squab.

Were this marvelous vehicle ever to make it to market, we would expect Rinspeed to exercise quality control and for our sQuba not to leak even if we drove it into a lake, In the mean time, if you are having problems with your new car leaking or otherwise not living up to the manufacturers specifications, you may have a lemon and may have some recourse. For more information, visit our site at www.texaslemon.com

This article was written by Carl Fischer. Mr. Fischer is a consultant to my office.

The A-1002 is the new New Jersey Lemon Law that not only includes automobile protections, but it will also include protections of warranties and extended warranties on consumer electronic devices such as the television, an IPOD mp3 player, or other electronic devices over $250.

The new law requires:

1) that the retailer or manufacturer must replace the subject electronic device with a device of equal condition or value if it has been subject to repair for 3 or more times, or

2) that the retailer or manufacturer must fully refund the purchase price of the device if it is deemed defective.

Currently, the Texas Lemon Law, unlike this new New Jersey Lemon Law, only protects consumers against defective new vehicles. Hopefully, one day, the Texas Lemon Law will broaden to protect consumers electronics also.

The newly proposed Missouri Lemon Law will increase its restrictions by disallowing consumers to go after car wholesalers in court. With the new law, consumers can only pursue car dealerships and possibly the car manufacturers. The law is intended to reverse the recent Missouri Supreme Court decision that found in favor of consumers by allowing victims who are sold lemon cars to go after both the car dealer and its wholesalers. The law has not passed yet and will go to the governor of Missouri for signage.

For more information, go here.

I wrote to Dave offering assistance and here is his response, "I appreciate your concern, but I have conceded defeat in this matter. As the 'little guy', I cannot compete with Ford Motor Company under the law. My belief that I was 'doing the right thing' by giving them the chance to repair the vehicle, 'bit' me, as FMC is unconcerned with 'doing the right thing."

If you have a Texas lemon vehicle, please make sure that you document everything. Regardless of whether you go with my law firm or my competitor, it is important that you do something to make sure that Ford or other manufacturers such as Chrysler or Mazda does not win for selling you a lemon.

So, this begs the question, does Consumer Report's prize for best car lower your probability of being stuck with a new lemon car? My short answer is no. All make and models of cars have a certain percentage that are built defective -- it is part of the quality control process. Interestingly, Chrysler vehicles are not included in this list.

Starting in the small sedan category is the Hyundai Elantra. The Hyundai Santa Fe wins for midsize SUVs. Best pickup truck goes to the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Crew Cab. Nods go to the Lexus LS460L for luxury cars, starting at $77,000. Unfortunately for Toyota, the Honda Accord gets the win for family sedan. Upscale sedan goes to Infiniti G35 while the Mazda MX-5 gets the "fun to drive" prize. My current car, the Toyota Rav4 is appointed the best small SUV. The Toyota minivan award goes to the Sienna. Last but not least, the best green car goes to the Toyota Prius.

Of the vehicles that were replaced under the state lemon law, Ford and General Motors ranked the highest while Toyota and Honda ranks the lowest. Nissan is still in the middle, improving in 9th place, compared to 2006's 14th place.

Personally, I feel that $490,000 worth of lemon car repurchase or replacement for a relatively sizable state like Hawaii is a small amount. If an average car is $20,000, then only 24.5 cars won a lemon law case in Hawaii. This leads me to believe that perhaps many lemon claims may have been rejected because of Hawaii's strict lemon law requirements...or perhaps because the requirements are implemented irregularly.

The bill was sponsored by Republican Jay Wasson and harshly opposed by Kansas City representative John Burnett, who is a Democrat. The lemon law bill is called HB1970 and has been sent to the Senate. There is currently no calendar date for it and the proposed effective date for it is 08/28/2008.

I personally would oppose this bill because it is written too narrow. There are many situations where it is important for the consumer to have the right to sue other parties besides the car dealers in lemon law related claims, especially in resale situations.

I urge folks who reside in Missouri to please write to your state representative and voice your opposition to this bill. For more information about the bill, go here and here.

Last week, fellow Lemon Law attorney and blogger, Jonathan Rudnick, wrote a short article that might have partially answered this hypothetical question. His article focuses on how there exists an entire market for buying and selling damaged cars.

This makes sense, because it is impractical and unprofitable for car manufacturers to simply dismantle and take lemon cars out of commission when it is so much easier to possibly sell it to another uninformed buyer who is in the market of buying a preown car. The Texas Lemon Law covers used car cases in very LIMITED situations. As a general rule, the law is intended to protect new car buyers.

I challenge car manufacturers such as Ford, Chrysler, and Mazda to re-consider their practices of lemon laundering and think about how unethical it is to pass along their problems to consumers. If there has been a lemon law buyback on a car with airbag or seat belt defects, does it make sense to put it back into the market used car market?

Lemon car recycling is bad.

In a nutshell, Dave experienced defects on his Ford truck early on during his ownership of the vehicle. He brought the vehicle in at least 7 times to the Ford service center. Each time, they repaired something, but the problems keep coming back. Now that Dave's warranty is about to expire, he finds himself with limited options.

The reason why his options are limited is because the Texas Lemon Law hates nice guys. Well, maybe it does not really hate nice guys, but it is certainly unfriendly to consumers who have a legitimate reasons for not pursing their claim early.

The law requires that you file a claim with the Texas Department of Transportation (DOT) within the first 24,000 miles or 24 months, whichever occurs first. After you miss that deadline, you have a 6 months grace period. After that, your options may be significantly more limited.

Some lessons to learn from Dave's experience includes,... file your lemon law claim early! If you do not file early, at least speak to a lemon lawyer like myself as early as possible to know your rights and what to look out for. My parents always tell me, "the worse thing you could do is wait until after you've broken the dish to find out the ceramics are fragile -- ask first and ask early."

To read more about Dave's experience and article, go here.

Ms. Walsh's article mentions the lack of coverage that current Michigan Lemon Law has on used or preowned cars. Thereafter, she explores alternative remedies that a consumer may have against sellers of used and defective cars. The article also outlines the the exact language of the Michigan consumer protection statute.

Similar to Michigan, Texas has a Texas Lemon Law that aims to protect buyers of new cars. Further, Texas also has a consumer protection law, entitled Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA). The DTPA has been successfully used to sue car car dealers for deceptive and dishonest practices.

For more about the article, please go here.

Juliet Bickford, WSLS Anchor for Channel 10 in Roanoke, Virginia, offers the following suggestions on how to complain effectively and successfully. After reading through her recommendations, I would have to say that I agree with her suggestions in light of lemon law car cases.

Some highlights of her suggestions include ... addressing your concern with a manager or supervisor on duty. If that fails, then go straight to top management (company president, vice president, and etc). If that does not work, then try reporting the company to the Better Business Bureau (BBB). If all else fails, consider taking the company to small claims court.

In addition to Ms. Bickford's list of helpful tips, I would also add: 1) keep good written records and notes of everything so that you can substantiate your position, 2) send all your correspondences as soon as possible -- do not wait until the statute of limitations (deadline or warranty) runs out, and 3) be persistent.

To read more on Ms. Bickford's article, go here.

One fan of the New York Yankees is suing the team after evidence of steroid use by several of their players came to light in the Mitchell report on drugs in sports. Specifically, Matthew Mitchell, a long time fan, is seeking $221 in repayment for tickets he purchased claiming that the behavior of the team is akin to consumer fraud.

Similar to a typical Texas Lemon Law related case, Mr. Mitchell is seeking refund of his ticket price for five games in which pitcher Andy Pettitte was involved. Mr. Pettitte was named in the Mitchell report and has admitted to using human growth hormones, though he claimed that this was used to hasten healing after an injury – not to enhance on field performance.

Mr. Mitchell believed that he was buying tickets to baseball games during which his favorite players would be competing naturally – without chemical enhancement. He feels that this is the position that was put forth by the team, and that, given the widespread steroid use, this was a misrepresentation on the part of the team. The case was filed in small claims court in Brooklyn.

We will keep you posted as to the outcome. So far as we know, no such case has been put forward against our local Dallas team, the Texas Rangers.

Consumer fraud can take all forms and may be present in many different types of consumer transactions. If you believe that you have been the victim of consumer fraud with respect to your new car, we may be able to help you. For more information, visit our web site at www.texaslemon.com

This article was written by C. Fischer. Mr. Fischer is a consultant to my office.

In the first case, you should most likely contact a properly licensed Texas Lemon Lawyer as soon as possible. If the second case applies, then continue reading...

One phrase that you have perhaps heard in this context is “rich Corinthian leather”. The term “Corinthian leather” has been used by Chrysler in describing leather in some of its luxury cars since the 1970’s. It was first used in ads for the Chrysler Cordoba, The name Cordoba came from the Argentine Cordoba coin which was used as part of the logo for the car.

In keeping with a somewhat Hispanic theme, the spokesperson for the Cordoba was Ricardo Montalban, Montalban is a Mexican born actor with a very lengthy career (going back to the 1940’s) and a smooth accented voice. One plausible story goes that during the filming of the commercials for the new Cordoba, Montalban improvised a bit and came out with the phrase “soft Corinthian leather”.

Ms. Jones summarizes ConsumerAffair.com’s recent article on Saturn’s recent recall on faulty timing belts. For the purpose of protecting your Texas Lemon Law interests and rights, it is important that you insist that the dealership or service center provide you a repair invoice for the recall repair.

In this article from Consumeraffairs.com by Joe Benton, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has recalled a handful of Saturn cars and SUVs due to faulty timing belts. The NHTSA has reported that 20,514 Saturn vehicles are included in the recall.

Although dealers are willing to replace the timing chain free of charge, many consumers have already “fixed” the problem and can’t be compensated or helped by the Saturn dealers. One consumer, Terry, in Indiana, had to spend $1,200 to repair a broken time chain and the valves that bent. Because he had already “fixed” the “problem” (defect), he wasn’t able to take his car to the dealer to be properly corrected.

The North Carolina Consumers Council (NCCC) brought the timing chain failures to the attention of NHTSA after the consumers in the state complained that the timing failures led to a sudden loss of power in the Saturn. The NCCC reports that an improper oil flow in the timing chain lubricating mechanism, contributed to the failure.

Since there is not a law in Canada that prohibits the selling of “lemons,” Canadian consumers may be unaware that they are purchasing a defective car. It has been reported that more than 130 lemons have been sold to Canadian consumers. The act of exporting lemon cars from one geographic location to another is also better known as lemon laundering. Here, manufacturers are exporting lemons from the United States and reselling it to Canadian residents without properly disclosing the lemons status of the vehicle.

The Manitoba government (Manitoba is a province in Canada) previously had no plans on adding, changing, or amending any legislation that would address this issue. Now, it has reconsidered the issue and an amendment may be tabled as early as next spring.

The article above is written by J. Jones. It summarizes CBC’s recent article on Manitoba’s lack of lemon laws for citizens of its province. Ms. Jones is a law clerk at my office.