State lemon law
Wisconsin Lemon Law
When a new vehicle keeps failing, Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin
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 term of the express warranty or one year after first delivery, whichever the attempts fall inside.
- The same defect has been subject to repair by the manufacturer at least four times and still exists.
- The vehicle has been out of service because of warranty defects for an aggregate of at least 30 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 with a defect the manufacturer cannot repair.
What you get
A comparable new vehicle or a refund, at the consumer's election. Wisconsin puts the manufacturer on a clock: it must agree in writing within 30 days of receiving the election form, and deliver the replacement or the refund by the 45th day.
The deadline
The repair attempts or the 30 days have to fall inside the warranty term or the first year after delivery.
Worth knowing
- The deadlines in Wisconsin run against the manufacturer as well as the consumer, which is unusual: 30 days to answer the election form and 45 days to hand over the money or the car.
How Wisconsin compares
20 states ask for fewer repair attempts than Wisconsin's 4, and 29 others ask for the same 4. 7 states count fewer days out of service. Wisconsin 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 Wis. Stat. § 218.0171 and from Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and 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.
- Wis. Stat. § 218.0171
- Wis. Stat. § 218.0171(4) (refund and replacement deadlines)
- Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and 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 Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, or to a lawyer in Wisconsin.
Compiled and maintained by guarledes . Data last checked 2026-08-20.
Independent developer and analyst