Lemon Law for California

Japanese automaker Mitsubishi dogged by scandals over its coverups of auto defects has reached a settlement with the family of a man who died in a crash caused by a design flaw.

The agreement was reached with relatives of a 39-year-old driver killed in an accident triggered by a clutch-design defect in a Mitsubishi truck he drove, said Fumio Nishizaki, a spokesman for Mitsubishi Motors Corp.

The truck crashed into a concrete embankment in western Japan after its brakes failed on Oct. 19, 2002.

Nishizaki said he could not disclose terms of the settlement because of an agreement with the victim’s family members.

The Yomiuri newspaper reported that Mitsubishi Motors agreed to pay the family an unidentified amount in damages, apologized, and promised to prevent a recurrence. The family, meanwhile, promised not to file a civil suit against the automaker, the newspaper said citing unnamed people involved in the talks.

“We keenly feel our responsibility for causing a painful accident of this,” Mitsubishi Motors President Hideyasu Tagaya said in a statement released Wednesday.

Tagaya said the automaker will do its utmost to ensure the safety of its vehicles.

Two of four former Mitsubishi Motors officials charged with professional negligence in the same crash also reached settlements with the family members, Nishizaki said.

Earlier this year, the Tokyo-based automaker and a truck affiliate spun off from the company, Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corp., said they had failed to disclose all the problems with their vehicles in 2000 when public apologies had been offered for previous cover-ups and continued to conceal design problems.

The revelation that the company hadn’t come clean stunned the Japanese public and sent Mitsubishi vehicle sales plummeting.

In the last several months, after another investigation into systematic cover-ups extending back at least 25 years, Mitsubishi Motors has announced more than 40 recalls of its vehicles.

In an opening court session for the professional negligence trial at the Yokohama District Court on Oct. 5, Yuzo Murata, a former executive overseeing truck operations, and Tatsuro Nakagami, the former head of quality control, acknowledged they failed to take appropriate safety measures.

Two other executives - Katsuhiko Kawasoe, the former head of Mitsubishi Motors, and former Mitsubishi Fuso chairman, Takashi Usami - are still contesting professional negligence charges and did not settle with the victim’s family, Nishizaki said.

Two other Mitsubishi Motors officials have been charged with professional negligence in another fatal accident in which a wheel flew off a truck and crushed a pedestrian in January 2002.

The charge of professional negligence resulting in death carries a maximum penalty of up to five years in prison or fines of 500,000 yen ($4,800 US) upon conviction.

Mitsubishi Motors is about 20 per cent owned by DaimlerChrysler AG of Germany. The automaker spun off its truck division in January 2003.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed into law SB 234, the bill that extends protections of the state’s automotive “lemon” law to armed forces personnel stationed in California.
Until now, the law applied only to cars purchased in California.
Military personnel who bought cars in other states and subsequently were transferred to California had no recourse under California law if they had a problem with their vehicles.
Under SB 234, active duty personnel transferred to California are protected by the state’s lemon law even if they purchased their vehicle in another state.

Shares of General Motors yesterday reached levels that nearly doubled their value from half-century lows set earlier this month.

GM shares closed at $14.58 a share, up 26 cents, or 1.82 percent. Shares of GM had traded as high as $16.43, or up almost $1.75 a share, in earlier trading today. Earlier this month, GM’s stock price had fallen to as low as $8.81 a share.

The rise in GM’s stock, seems to have been caused by two factors: Bill Gate’s entry into the automotive business world through his purchase of 5% of AutoNation Inc, the largest dealership group in the United States; and GM’s disclosure that it’s global sales totaled 4.5 million vehicles in the first six months of this year, with rapid growth overseas.

Clearly, the rumors of GM’s demise, or the suggestion of the need to file bankruptcy is over exaggeration. One has to wonder whether GM’s stock has finally hit bottom and is now on the road to recovery.

In the wake of America’s mass exodus from large trucks and SUVs, Toyota is considering shifting production of its efficient Camry to its Indiana truck plant. Toyota sold 51,291 Camrys last month while Tundra sales slipped 31.5 percent.

The future of the Indiana plant — which produces the Toyota Tundra pickup, Sequoia SUV and Sienna minivan — has been up in the air for several months now. Earlier reports suggest that Toyota would move Tundra production exclusively to its new plant in San Antonio, Texas, with the latest reports indicating Toyota would export vehicles made at its Indiana plant.

The move to produce Camrys at its truck plant would seem to be a smart one for Toyota. Not only would it allowed Toyota to maximize its production capacity, but it would give the Japanese automaker a third U.S. Camry plant at a time when demand for fuel-efficient vehicles is on the rise. We’re pretty sure workers at the Princeton, Indiana plant would also be in favor of Camry production rather than a pink slip.

Toyota has yet to officially confirm the report, but did tell Automotive News that it is “looking at a lot of things to balance production.”

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The Toyota Camry has been the best-selling passenger car in the U.S. for 10 of the last 11 years, but could the perennial best-selling car be eying the number one overall spot?  Ford’s F-150 pickup truck has held the title of the best-selling vehicle in the U.S. for the past 31 years, but a slumping economy and high fuel prices have the F-150’s title in jeopardy.

During the month of April, Toyota’s Camry outsold Chevrolet’s Silverado — which has historically always been the second best-selling vehicle in America. During April, Toyota sold 40,016 Camrys while Chevy could only move 37,231 Silverados — a decrease of 24.7 percent.

However, despite the Camry’s strong April sales, the Silverado still retains the number two spot by a small margin. But if gas prices continue to climb, the Camry might just have enough momentum to knock both pickups off their comfy top spots.

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[ To Learn more our services and areas of practice, please visit our website at www.LemonLawIntel.com ]

Is your new dream car spending more time at the dealer’s repair shop than it spends with you? Does you car emit smoke in a rainbow of colors, drip multiple fluids, or make wheezing noises while stopped at an intersection? Do the neighbours complain that they hear your new car coming long before they see it? If you’ve detected a faint whiff of citrus when approaching your garage, then you could have a lemon on your hands. But wait! Hold the sugar and ice cubes: In California, you won’t be forced to make lemonade.

What, Exactly, Is a Lemon?

In California, a problem car’s owner can be entitled to a comparable replacement, or a refund of the purchase price (prorated based on the miles driven). In order to qualify as a lemon:
The car must still be under warranty. The owner must have taken the car in for repair of the same problem four or more times through an authorized dealer. The car must have been inoperable for a total of 30 days (not necessarily consecutive)

The problem or defect must also substantially impair the use, value, or safety of the vehicle. To qualify, cars must be either purchased or leased in California for personal, family, or business use.