What qualifies as a lemon in Connecticut?

The same defect has been the subject of four or more repair attempts within the first two years or 24,000 miles and still exists. The same safety-related defect has been the subject of two or more repair attempts in the first year, or twice within the warranty period, whichever comes first. The vehicle has been out of service for repair for a cumulative total of 30 days in the same period. These attempts must fall inside the first two years from delivery or the first 24,000 miles, whichever comes first. (Conn. Gen. Stat. ch. 743b, §§ 42-179 to 42-186)

State lemon law

Connecticut Lemon Law

When a new vehicle keeps failing, Connecticut law can require the manufacturer to replace it or buy it back. These are the numbers the statute actually sets.

Repair attempts

If it is a safety defect

Days out of service

Months covered

24,000

Miles covered

What counts as a lemon in Connecticut

Meeting any one of these raises a presumption that the manufacturer has had a reasonable number of attempts. The repairs have to fall inside the first two years from delivery or the first 24,000 miles, whichever comes first.

The same defect has been the subject of four or more repair attempts within the first two years or 24,000 miles and still exists.
The same safety-related defect has been the subject of two or more repair attempts in the first year, or twice within the warranty period, whichever comes first.
The vehicle has been out of service for repair for a cumulative total of 30 days in the same period.

Failing all of these does not end a claim. The presumption is a shortcut through the evidence, not the whole of the law, and a vehicle that misses it can still be a lemon on ordinary warranty grounds. It does mean the owner has to prove what the presumption would have assumed.

Which vehicles the law reaches

Vehicles registered as passenger, combination or motorcycle, bought or leased new in Connecticut, where the defect substantially impairs the use, safety or value of the vehicle.

What you have to send the manufacturer

The defect has to have shown up and been reported inside the two-year, 24,000-mile term of protection. What happens after that is the arbitration request rather than a letter to the manufacturer.

Keep every repair order. The dates a vehicle went in and came out are what the whole test is counted from, and they are the one part of the record the owner controls.

What you get

Replacement with an identical or comparable new vehicle, or a refund of the full contract price plus collateral charges, and the arbitrator may add incidental damages. Where a deduction for use is awarded it is the present mileage multiplied by the contract price and divided by 120,000.

The deadline

Connecticut publishes no separate filing deadline for the arbitration request: what the state states is that the defect must have appeared within the term of protection. An appeal from an arbitration award must be filed within 30 days. Ask the Lemon Law Program before assuming a late request will be accepted.

Where it is decided

The Department of Consumer Protection runs the arbitration itself, which was the first state program of its kind. The consumer pays $50 and the manufacturer $250, and the department aims to reach a decision within 60 days of a completed request.

Worth knowing

Connecticut passed the first lemon law in the United States in 1982, and most of the statutes on this site are descended from it.
Motorcycles are covered here, which they are not in a good many states.

How Connecticut compares

20 states ask for fewer repair attempts than Connecticut's 4, and 29 others ask for the same 4. 7 states count fewer days out of service. 15 states stop counting at fewer than 24,000 miles.

Every state's thresholds side by side

Before you file: what is already on record

A lemon law claim is about your car. What other owners have reported about the same year, make and model is separate, and it is public: it can tell you whether the failure is a known pattern, whether NHTSA is investigating it, and whether a recall already covers the repair you have been paying for.

Check your VIN for open recalls Look up your year, make and model

Under investigation 2010 Ford Fusion 2012 Ford Focus 2011 Hyundai Sonata 2013 Ford F-150 2010 Toyota Prius 2011 Ford Fusion

Where this comes from

Read from Conn. Gen. Stat. ch. 743b, §§ 42-179 to 42-186 and from Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection, Lemon Law Program, checked on 2026-08-20. Nothing on this page is copied from another summary, and there are a great many of them that disagree with the statutes they describe.

This is not legal advice. It is a reading of a public statute, written by somebody who is not a lawyer and does not know your car, your paperwork or your state's case law. A lemon law claim turns on facts this page cannot see. Take the statute and your repair orders to Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection, Lemon Law Program, or to a lawyer in Connecticut.

Compiled and maintained by guarledes . Data last checked 2026-08-20.
Independent developer and analyst