On October 1, New Jersey Governor Jon S. Corzine signed into law a bill expanding consumers’ lemon law protections in that state. Sponsored by Assemblywoman Mila Jasey, the bill extends the period of coverage for new vehicles from the first 18,000 to the first 24,000 miles of operation. In addition, a new provision takes effect that enables consumers to file a lemon law claim after one repair attempt if the defect is likely to cause death or serious bodily injury.

According to Jasey, “”When purchasing a factory-new vehicle, a driver has a right to expect it to be free from defects. When it is not, motorists deserve protection under the law to help them recoup their investment.”

The New Jersey Legislature approved Senate bill 454 (Buono-D), which would expand the period covered by the state’s lemon law. Under the bill, which awaits the governor’s action, new vehicles would be covered for two years or 24,000 miles (whichever comes first). Existing law limits mileage to 18,000 miles.

In addition, the bill enables consumers whose defective vehicles could cause serious injury or death to file a lemon law claim after a single repair attempt, after which the manufacturer would have one attempt to fix the vehicle. Furthermore, the bill mandates that vehicle manufacturers provide consumers with information about lemon law protection separate from other manuals and paperwork, and that the information be provided in both English and Spanish.

According to Senator Buono, “This change is reasonable and sorely needed since current usage patterns and needs have changed considerably. Drivers commute to work much farther than when the law was enacted 18 years ago and subsequently consumers are finding their lemon law rights are limited to approximately a year of usage. In fact, the average consumer reaches the 18,000-mile limit after only 14 months. By broadening the window through which individuals can file claims to 24,000 miles or two years, we will be affording many hardworking New Jerseyans enhanced consumer protection.”

Back in August, I wrote a post about New Jersey’s pending lemon law for electronics. The bill, A-1002, passed out of committee, but hasn’t moved since then. New Jersey Assemblymember Paul Moriarty recently released a video about why such a law is necessary. It’s worth watching!

In The Alternative Press, Mike Shapiro covers local news in Summit, Berkeley Heights, and New Providence – all in North Jersey. But he also has an insightful blog called ShapTalk where he mixes it up in the political arena and gets people buzzing about local, state, and federal issues.

In a recent column, Mike discussed the Wounded Warrior Workplace Initiative proposed by Bob Straniere, a candidate running for Congress in New York’s 13th District. The proposal encourages members of Congress and congressional candidates to hire wounded veterans or veterans’ family members. Mike writes:

While members of Congress could not possibly employ every injured veteran…they [would be] sending a powerful message to business owners throughout the country that they also need to do their part to create a seamless transition for veterans from military service to employment in the private sector.

Hats off to Mike for bringing this important issue to our attention.

New Jersey Lemon Laws have teeth, but sometimes car manufacturers bite back. This was a case for one of our clients, who had a 2008 Buick Lucerne with repeated stability control malfunctions.According to J.D. Power and Associates, GM’s 2008 Buick Lucerne gets an almost perfect score in “Overall Quality Mechanical” and a perfect score in “Powertrain Quality Mechanical.” Our client’s experience was anything but perfect.

At the outset, GM didn’t think that the inoperability of the stability control system was significant. Yet the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported that such control systems can cut crashes by 35 percent, and other studies have demonstrated that 10,000 traffic fatalities could be avoided each year if every vehicle had a stability control system. Indeed, the Administrator of the NHTSA testified before Congress that such systems “could be the greatest safety innovation since the safety belt.”

Ultimately, it took us five months to get GM to see the light. Thanks to NJ Lemon Law, the manufacturer finally agreed that the malfunctions were serious enough to warrant a buyback. The result? Our client received a refund for his down payment and for all of his car payments.