Lemon Law for California

Build Dates : June 01, 2005 - April 30, 2006

NHTSA CAMPAIGN ID Number : 06V311000

Date Owner’s Notified: 20060920
Date Received by ODI: 20060816
Date Added to Databse: 20060816

Manufacturer’s Involved: GENERAL MOTORS CORP.
Manufacturer’s Responsible for the Recall: GENERAL MOTORS CORP.
Manufacturer Campaign Number: 06077

Component: SERVICE BRAKES, AIR
Potential Number Of Units Affected : 1369

Summary: 

Certain trucks fail to comply with the requirements of federal motor vehicle safety standard no. 121, ¿air brake systems.” An internal control and check valve within the air brake application valve assembly was configured improperly, preventing air from flowing through the brake system as designed. In the event of an emergency stop, the vehicle’s stopping distance would be increased.

Consequence: 

If stopping distance was limited, a vehicle crash could result.

Remedy: 

Dealers will replace the air brake application valve assembly on c-series or reroute the air brake lines on t-series free of charge. The recall began on September 20, 2006.  

You must allow the manufacturer or dealer to make a “reasonable” number of attempts to fix a substantial warranty problem before your car is considered to be a lemon. Usually, you must meet one of the following standards:

• If the defect is a serious safety defect (for example, involving brakes or steering), it must remain unfixed after one repair attempt.

• If the defect is not a serious safety defect, it must remain unfixed after three or four repair attempts (the number varies by state).

• If for a certain number of days the vehicle is in the shop (usually 30 days in a one-year period) to fix one or more substantial warranty defects, it may fit the definition of a lemon.

The size and weight of a vehicle are important characteristics that influence its safety in a serious crash. The laws of physics dictate that, all else being equal, larger and heavier vehicles are safer than smaller and lighter ones. In relation to their numbers on the road, small cars have more than twice as many occupant deaths each year as large cars. Size and weight are closely related. Large vehicles typically are heavy, and small ones are light. But these two characteristics don’t influence “crashworthiness” the same way. Vehicle size can protect you in both single and two-vehicle collisions because larger vehicles usually have longer crush zones, which help prevent damage to the safety cage and lower the crash forces inside it. Vehicle weight protects you principally in two-vehicle crashes. In a head-on crash, for example, the heavier vehicle drives the lighter one backwards, which decreases forces inside the heavy vehicle and increases forces in the lighter one. All heavy vehicles, even poorly designed ones, offer this advantage in two-vehicle collisions but may not offer good protection in single-vehicle crashes.