State lemon law
Michigan Lemon Law
When a new vehicle keeps failing, Michigan law can require the manufacturer to replace it or buy it back. These are the numbers the statute actually sets.
4
Repair attempts
30
Days out of service
12
Months covered
What counts as a lemon in Michigan
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 defect must be reported within the express warranty term or one year from delivery, whichever ends first.
- The same defect has been subject to repair four or more times within two years of the first repair attempt and still exists.
- The vehicle has been out of service for repair for a total of 30 or more days, or parts of days, during the warranty term or within one year of delivery, whichever ends first. These days do not have to be for the same defect.
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 bought in Michigan and covered by a manufacturer's express warranty.
What you have to send the manufacturer
After the third attempt at the same defect, and before using any remedy under the act, the consumer must send the manufacturer written notice by return receipt service, giving it a chance to cure.
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
Within 30 days the manufacturer must either replace the vehicle with a comparable one acceptable to the consumer, or accept its return and refund the purchase price.
The deadline
The act sets no filing deadline of its own. Where the manufacturer runs an informal dispute settlement procedure meeting the federal standard, the consumer has to use it first, and is not obliged to accept its decision.
Where it is decided
The manufacturer's own program, where it has one that complies with the federal rule. Michigan runs no state arbitration board for this.
Worth knowing
- The two windows work differently. The four attempts are counted over two years from the first repair, but the defect itself has to have been reported inside the warranty term or the first year.
- The 30-day test counts days out of service for any defects added together, not for one.
How Michigan compares
20 states ask for fewer repair attempts than Michigan's 4, and 29 others ask for the same 4. 7 states count fewer days out of service. Michigan sets no mileage limit at all, which is unusual: most states end the window at a mileage as well as a date.
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 Mich. Comp. Laws §§ 257.1401-257.1410 (Act 87 of 1986) and from Michigan Department of Attorney General, Consumer Protection Team, 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.
- Mich. Comp. Laws § 257.1403 (repair attempts and notice)
- Mich. Comp. Laws § 257.1405 (informal dispute settlement)
- Michigan lemon law, Department of Attorney General
- Michigan Department of Attorney General, Consumer Protection Team
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 Michigan Department of Attorney General, Consumer Protection Team, or to a lawyer in Michigan.
Compiled and maintained by guarledes . Data last checked 2026-08-20.
Independent developer and analyst