Lemon Law for California

Build Dates : June 01, 2003 - September 30, 2006

NHTSA CAMPAIGN ID Number : 08V541000

Date Owner’s Notified:
Date Received by ODI: 20081014
Date Added to Databse: 20081015

Manufacturer’s Involved: CRUISER RV
Manufacturer’s Responsible for the Recall: CRUISER RV
Manufacturer Campaign Number:

Component: EQUIPMENT:RECREATIONAL VEHICLE
Potential Number Of Units Affected : 5021

Summary: 

Cruiser RV is recalling my 2003-2006 cruiser and land roamer fifth wheel travel trailers equipped with a two-door refrigerator manufactured by the dometic corporation. The refrigerator may have a defect in the boiler tube. Pressurized coolant solution could be released into an area where an ignition source (gas flame) is present.

Consequence: 

Release of coolant under certain conditions could ignite and result in a fire.

Remedy: 

Cruiser RV will be working with dometic in order to repair these refrigerators (please see 08e032). Dometic will repair these refrigerators by installing a secondary burn housing, a thermal fuse, and a melt fuse free of charge. Dometic has retained stericycle inc. to manage this campaign. Stericycle will assist the owner in locating dealerships or service centers and will provide assistance with scheduling of appointments. 

New vehicles may contain hidden mechanical flaws or defects in workmanship, caused by design flaws or by an error during the automotive factory build process. These errors can range from parts being installed incorrectly to a tool that was used to build the car not being removed or a batch of materials with structural or chemical flaws.

Consumer protection legislation typically labels vehicles as “lemons” if the same problem recurs despite multiple repair attempts (such as three times in a row over a short period, where previous attempts have not fixed the problem) or where defects have caused a new vehicle to be out of service for a prolonged period (typically thirty days or longer) for repairs.

The primary objective of these lemon laws is to force manufacturers to buy back defective vehicles or exchange them. Depending on the jurisdiction, a process similar to vehicle title branding may also be used to warn subsequent purchasers of the history of a problem vehicle. This portion of a vehicle’s history is, however, often not retained with the vehicle title when exporting vehicles to another jurisdiction.

If you purchased a used car there are two situations in which you may be qualified for cash or other lemon law benefits:

Situation #1: You may be entitled to compensation for breach of warranty if you had one of the following warranties:

 Any warranty left from the manufacturer when you purchased your vehicle (for example, almost all vehicles sold with fewer than 36,000 miles will have this. But if the warranty is longer, you may have even more time).

 Your vehicle was “Certified” by the Manufacturer (in which case it came with a short Manufacturer’s Warranty, typically 1 year).

 You purchased an Extended Warranty backed by the Manufacturer (typically 5 years or longer).

Normally, these types of cases fall outside the scope of the state lemon law but are covered under special federal lemon laws.

Situation #2: When No Manufacturer’s Warranty Exists If you do not have a manufacturer’s warranty of any kind you may be entitled to compensation for violations of consumer protection laws that fall outside of the lemon laws. The following is a list of some of the problems and/or issues which may be present in your vehicle.

 Prior history of mechanical problems known to the seller: Laundered Lemon.

 Previously salvaged or wrecked.

 Fraudulently rolled back odometer.

 Rental car, police car, taxi, or similar.

 Stolen, stripped and rebuilt.

 Involved in a flood.

Lemon Laws vary from state to state, so accurate information on the scope and restrictions of Lemon Laws in a particular state should be obtained from an attorney practicing in that state.