VW Says, We Got Sludge, by Donald P. Ladew
What had been the other guy’s problem came home to roost in the author’s driveway the other day. I read this headline at Autoweek.com. “VW to cover maintenance costs for sludge damaged engines.” As you may have guessed, I am the owner of a VW Passat Wagon, and yes, it has the 1.8T Turbo engine. Unfortunately I......
Read MoreStop Being so Darn Nice
Patience it is said is a virtue. However, there are limits. Exceeding these limits can definitely prevent the consumer from exercising their right under the California lemon law. Recently I analyzed a vehicle to see if it qualified for the Lemon Law and was astonished by the consumer’s patience. The following is a generic summary......
Read MoreToyota Settles One Unintended Acceleration Lawsuit
So, Toyota settles what is considered by some to be the strongest “Sudden Acceleration” lawsuit amongst hundreds of individual and class actions law suits. Toyota asserts that this terrifying incident was caused by a problem with the floor mat. You heard correctly, the floor mat. This was not a California Lemon Law case; it was......
Read MoreAPPELLATE VICTORY AGAINST MERCEDES BENZ USA
On behalf of its client, Azubueze Jiagbogu, Norman Taylor & Associates won a decisive victory against Mercedes Benz USA on issues relating to offsets claimed by manufacturers for years in computing how much a consumer was entitled to in a lemon law case. In addition, the court of appeal put to rest and old defense......
Read MoreThere’s No Money in Simple
This is a subject that has been discussed and written about at Norman Taylor & Associates at length, yet we are drawn to it again and again in the California Lemon Law field. Warren Rother, a senior executive at Mercedes said in an interview written for Automotive News in 2004 that he was going to reduce the......
Read MoreRead the Manual, Please!
A recent study by Schrader, a company that creates tire pressure monitoring systems, showed that one in three people did not recognize the tire pressure warning light. Owning a vehicle also requires that consumers make themselves aware of how to operate the vehicle and recognize these warning indicators; information that is included in the Owner’s......
Read MoreThe Extended Warranty
Here is a typical (unfortunately), bit of information offered by a potential CA Lemon Law client calling Norman Taylor & Associates to get help with his defective motor vehicle. When we asked about the date of the first repair attempt the date he gave was after the original warranty had expired: We told him this......
Read MoreAir Suspension Problems
When the air suspension fails the effects can be startling beyond what happens with an ordinary coil spring suspension system. Because these systems can adjust the suspension to three different ride heights another computer control system is required. This complex suspension control system is added to vehicles that are already over-burdened with software and computer......
Read MoreBMW’s High Pressure Fuel Pump Failure Avoids the Dreaded Recall
By now it’s no secret that some BMW high pressure fuel pumps are defective on some models of their vehicles. Norman Taylor & Associates has settled many of these cases for its client under the California Lemon Law. Just for the record, BMW has for the most part settled these cases sensibly without dragging their......
Read MoreMisrepresentation and Defective Automobiles Tops U.S. Consumer Complaints Survey for 2009
A recent nationwide survey by the Palm Beach Post that places auto woes at the top of the list again comes as no surprise to Norman Taylor, Principal Attorney of leading California Lemon Law firm Norman Taylor & Associates. For many years the U.S produced and sold around 15,000,000 new cars and trucks every year.......
Read MoreFord Trucks with Diesel Engines
Seven years of examining repair and service orders for lemon trucks has not made me cynical…yet. It has come close a few times. This is particularly true of Ford F-150, F-250, and F-350 models, those with the diesel engine in particular. This is not an exact statistic, but when it comes to engine defects, a......
Read MoreWhen Did the First Defect Arise?
In Lemon Law the Standard Reference Guide we write about mileage offset (also called mileage allowance). “Almost all states permit the manufacturer to deduct some allowance for your use of the vehicle. Some states allow a deduction only for the miles driven up to the first repair attempt. [California] This recognizes that the failure to......
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