Car Automotive

Archive for October 22nd, 2009

After you’ve owned your car for a while, you might run into various mechanical difficulties. It is important to report major problems to the federal government’s Auto Safety Hotline (800-424-9393), because it allows regulators to determine whether a pattern of problems exists with a particular car model. Lodging a complaint is quite easy.
If regulators determine that a pattern of problems does persist with your model, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) will order the manufacturer to recall the car and fix the problem. Because you will be on the NHTSA’s list of complainants, you will be notified by mail of any recall. If you, unfortunately, have purchased a lemon, you are protected under socalled lemon laws in most states. These laws define a lemon as a car that has been repaired for the same defect at least four times or is out of service for at least 30 days. Lemon laws establish a period of coverage—usually one year from the date you took possession of the car—and require arbitration out of court. For further details on how these laws work and how to resolve your complaint under them, consult The Lemon Times, a quarterly newsletter, and the Lemon Book by Ralph Nader and Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety. (See the “Resources” section at the end of this chapter for more information.) The newsletter will, of course, be more up-to-date than the book.