Politicians in Sacramento have made more changes to California’s lemon law, after Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 26 on April 2, 2025. SB 26 effectively looks back at all the new procedural changes to the lemon law under AB 1755 and makes those changes optional at the election of the car company. This is the first law we are aware of that allows a defendant to choose what law will apply to it, and from our vantage point SB 26 is a bad bill and bad policy. It creates a two-tiered lemon law that will confuse consumers and the judiciary. Some more bad news about the bill is a shortened statute of limitations period. Lemon law claims now must be made no later than six years after the original in-service date. That means we won’t be handling any vehicle cases involving vehicles older than model year 2019. Another bad development is that the new lemon law permits car companies to assess negative equity deductions when they calculate lemon law repurchase settlements. All in all, these changes to California’s lemon law are bad for California consumers and a boon for car companies.
Complaints with the bill out of the way, however, there are some positives. For those companies that opt in to the new procedural changes to the lemon law, car companies will have only 30 days to offer repurchase or replace after receiving a written pre-litigation demand to do so, and they will have 30 days thereafter to complete the lemon law repurchase or replacement transaction. We know many car companies can’t or simply won’t move quickly to take defective and unsafe vehicles off the road, so this may mean more civil penalty cases. Conversely, we think cash settlements might be more popular with car companies. Another positive of the new law is that the parties are supposed to participate in mediation within 150 days or 5 months of the car company’s initial response to the lemon lawsuit. Mediation does not mean settlement, but at least it will force companies to discuss settlement sooner.
Consumers need to be aware of their changing lemon law rights, and they need to be vocal with their state senators and assemblymembers. We encourage all our clients and friends, including you, to contact your state senator and assemblymember and tell them you are mad about Sacramento weaking the lemon law, and demand that our elected officials stand up for consumers, not car companies. You can find your representatives’ contact information here: https://findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov/
If consumers think they have a lemon, it is more important than ever that they reach out to experts like Joseph Kaufman & Associates for assistance.
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