State lemon law
Utah Lemon Law
When a new vehicle keeps failing, Utah 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 Utah
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 one year from the original delivery, whichever is earlier.
- The same defect has been subject to repair four or more times and still exists.
- The vehicle has been out of service for repair for a cumulative 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 Utah under a manufacturer's express warranty.
What you get
Replacement by the manufacturer, or a refund of the full purchase price less an allowance for use. Utah sets the mileage allowance by formula: the purchase price divided by 100,000, but never less than ten cents a mile and never more than twenty-one cents.
The deadline
The attempts or the 30 business days have to fall inside the warranty term or the first year, whichever ends earlier.
Worth knowing
- The capped per-mile allowance, between ten and twenty-one cents, is unusual: most states use a flat division by 100,000 or 120,000 miles with no floor or ceiling.
How Utah compares
20 states ask for fewer repair attempts than Utah's 4, and 29 others ask for the same 4. 7 states count fewer days out of service. Utah 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 New Motor Vehicle Warranties Act, Utah Code ch. 13-20 and from Utah Division of Consumer Protection, 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.
- Utah Code ch. 13-20
- New Motor Vehicle Warranties Act Rule, R152-20
- Car purchases and repairs, Utah Division of Consumer Protection
- Utah Division of Consumer Protection
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 Utah Division of Consumer Protection, or to a lawyer in Utah.
Compiled and maintained by guarledes . Data last checked 2026-08-20.
Independent developer and analyst