By Suzanne Potter
Manufacturers have recalled millions of cars in 2025 due to safety defects and consumer groups said a newly weakened “lemon law” in California is not doing consumers any favors.
Ford alone has issued more than 100 recalls so far in 2025, affecting more than 8 million vehicles. Yet new rules this year in the Golden State made it harder to get a defective car fixed or replaced.
Rosemary Shahan, president of Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety, said Assembly Bill 1755, which took effect in January, primarily benefits car manufacturers.
“It shortened the time period during which you can use the lemon law,” Shahan pointed out. “It makes it harder to even get an attorney to represent you. It requires you to give formal, written notice directly to manufacturers if you want to use the lemon law.”
Ford did not respond to a request for comment but the firm’s CEO has said a shortage of mechanics is affecting the company’s ability to make repairs in a timely fashion. The bill’s co-author, Sen. Tom Umberg, D-Santa Ana, said in a statement the bill “is a necessary step towards streamlining and strengthening California’s Lemon Law to get drivers out of the judicial system and back on the road more quickly.”
Shahan noted lawmakers actually passed a second bill, Senate Bill 26, as an urgency measure. It made the new law optional for manufacturers.
“What they ended up doing was giving manufacturers a choice, whether they would opt into the changes to the lemon law or live with the old lemon law,” Shahan explained. “So now we have this two-tiered system where Toyota didn’t opt in, but GM, Ford, Chrysler opted into the new law.”
Ford is suing major consumer law firms handling lemon law cases. Shahan argued it is problematic the CEO of the American Arbitration Association is married to a top Ford executive, alleging Ford insists disputes involving lemon law fees are heard by the association and not other arbitration firms.
