State lemon law
Hawaii Lemon Law
When a new vehicle keeps failing, Hawaii law can require the manufacturer to replace it or buy it back. These are the numbers the statute actually sets.
3
Repair attempts
30
Days out of service
24
Months covered
24,000
Miles covered
What counts as a lemon in Hawaii
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 manufacturer's express warranty, two years from delivery, or the first 24,000 miles, whichever comes first.
- The same defect has been examined or repaired at least three times and still exists.
- The vehicle has been in for examination or repair of one or more defects for a total of 30 or more business days.
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
New motor vehicles sold in Hawaii under an express warranty.
What you get
A replacement vehicle or a full refund.
The deadline
The qualifying attempts have to fall inside the lemon law rights period: the warranty, two years, or 24,000 miles, whichever ends first.
Where it is decided
Hawaii runs a State Certified Arbitration Program through the Regulated Industries Complaints Office, and publishes a handbook for consumers on how to use it.
Worth knowing
- A business day here means a day the manufacturer's authorized dealers normally have their service departments open, so weekends and holidays do not count towards the 30.
How Hawaii compares
No state on this site asks for fewer than Hawaii's 3 repair attempts, and 19 others ask for the same 3. 7 states count fewer days out of service. 15 states stop counting at fewer than 24,000 miles.
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.
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 Motor Vehicle Express Warranty Enforcement, Haw. Rev. Stat. ch. 481I and from Hawaii Regulated Industries Complaints Office, State Certified Arbitration 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.
- Haw. Rev. Stat. ch. 481I
- The Hawaii lemon law and the State Certified Arbitration Program (handbook)
- Lemon law information for consumers, RICO
- Hawaii Regulated Industries Complaints Office, State Certified Arbitration Program
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 Hawaii Regulated Industries Complaints Office, State Certified Arbitration Program, or to a lawyer in Hawaii.
Compiled and maintained by guarledes . Data last checked 2026-08-20.
Independent developer and analyst