What qualifies as a lemon in Minnesota?

The same defect has been subject to repair four or more times inside the warranty term or the first two years, and still exists. A defect causing complete failure of the braking or steering system, likely to cause death or serious bodily injury, has been subject to repair at least once and still exists. The vehicle has been out of service for repair for a cumulative total of 30 or more business days inside the same period. These attempts must fall inside the express warranty term or two years from delivery, whichever ends first, with no mileage limit. (Minn. Stat. § 325F.665)

State lemon law

Minnesota Lemon Law

When a new vehicle keeps failing, Minnesota 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

What counts as a lemon in Minnesota

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 express warranty term or two years from delivery, whichever ends first, with no mileage limit.

The same defect has been subject to repair four or more times inside the warranty term or the first two years, and still exists.
A defect causing complete failure of the braking or steering system, likely to cause death or serious bodily injury, has been subject to repair at least once and still exists.
The vehicle has been out of service for repair for a cumulative total of 30 or more business days inside 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

Passenger cars, pickups and vans bought or leased new for personal, family or household use at least 40 percent of the time, the chassis or van portion of a recreational vehicle, and licensed ambulances.

What you have to send the manufacturer

The presumption only applies if the manufacturer received written notice from the consumer at least once and a chance to cure. A dealer that receives the notice must forward it to the manufacturer by certified mail, return receipt requested.

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 a comparable vehicle, or a refund of the full purchase price with taxes, license and registration fees, towing and rental costs, less an allowance for use capped at ten cents a mile or ten percent of the purchase price, whichever is less. If the manufacturer offers a replacement, the consumer can insist on the refund instead.

The deadline

The presumption runs to the end of the warranty or two years, but a refund or replacement is not barred where the qualifying repair attempts happen within three years of delivery (subd. 4(f)).

Where it is decided

Every manufacturer selling in Minnesota must run or take part in an informal dispute settlement mechanism located in the state. The consumer generally has to use it first, and the decision is not binding on either side: any party can take it to district court for a fresh trial within 30 days.

Worth knowing

Minnesota counts business days out of service, not calendar days, which is about six weeks rather than a month.
The cap on the use deduction, ten cents a mile or ten percent of the price, is the most generous formula on this list. Most states divide by 100,000 or 120,000 miles with no cap at all.
A vehicle returned for a complete brake or steering failure likely to cause death may not be resold in Minnesota at all.

How Minnesota compares

20 states ask for fewer repair attempts than Minnesota's 4, and 29 others ask for the same 4. 7 states count fewer days out of service. Minnesota sets no mileage limit at all, which is unusual: most states end the window at a mileage as well as a date.

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 Minn. Stat. § 325F.665 and from Minnesota Attorney General, 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 Minnesota Attorney General, or to a lawyer in Minnesota.

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