When a person purchases a vehicle today, they are protected by lemon laws. If their vehicle cannot be repaired after a reasonable number of attempts, they may be given a new vehicle or may be entitled to a full refund. However, things were not this way just a few decades ago.
Prior to 1975, when the Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act was enacted, if a person purchased a vehicle that had a manufacturing defect, they could have been required to cover the price of repairs out of pocket. However, thanks to this law and lemon law attorneys, clients who have purchased vehicles with serious defects can get compensation.
In the United States, each one of the 50 states has a localized version of lemon laws. When most people think about lemon laws, they think about automobiles. However, in many states these laws extend to cover appliances or machines that have a serious manufacturer defect. These laws give customers and lemon law attorneys a basis to seek a replacement or refund for their defective product.
Some have asked, why use the word lemon? Around the turn-of-the-century the term lemon started to be used in the United States as a way of referring to something worthless. Some believe it was linked to the sour taste of a lemon. This sour taste can be compared to the way a person feels when a product turns out to be defective.