When a New Car Is a Lemon
ORC 1345.72 — one year or eighteen thousand miles, whichever comes first
Ohio's nonconforming new motor vehicle law sits inside the consumer sales practices chapter. It runs against the manufacturer rather than the dealer, and it works on a window measured two ways at once: the first year of operation from the date of delivery, or the first eighteen thousand miles, whichever comes first.
Who handles this in Ohio: Ohio State Bar Association lawyer referral; and legal aid programs and the state offices, listed in the Ohio directory.
The window is the gate. Everything else is inside it. The nonconformity has to be reported inside that year or those eighteen thousand miles. A defect that first appears in month fourteen is outside the law even where it is exactly the kind of defect the law was written about. This is the commonest reason a claim that feels obviously right does not qualify.
Inside the window, the manufacturer, its agent or its authorized dealer has to make the repairs necessary to conform the vehicle to the express warranty, however many attempts that takes, and the duty holds even where the repairs are completed after the window has closed.
Where a reasonable number of attempts has been made without conforming the vehicle, the buyer chooses between two remedies, and the choice belongs to the buyer rather than to the manufacturer. Replacement with a new motor vehicle acceptable to the buyer, or acceptance of the return of the vehicle and a refund.
| The measure | What the law uses |
|---|---|
| The measureThe window | What the law usesOne year from delivery or eighteen thousand miles, whichever is first |
| The measureSame nonconformity | What the law usesThree or more repair attempts inside the window |
| The measureOut of service | What the law usesThirty or more cumulative days inside the window |
| The measureWho owes the remedy | What the law usesThe manufacturer |
| The measureWho picks the remedy | What the law usesThe buyer |
A purchaser who suffers loss because the manufacturer, its agent or its authorized dealer failed to comply may bring a civil action in a court of common pleas or other court of competent jurisdiction, and in addition to other relief is entitled to recover reasonable attorney's fees and all court costs. A fee provision like that is what makes a claim worth a lawyer's time on a matter where the amount at stake is a single car.
What counts as a nonconformity, what counts as a reasonable number of attempts in a case that is not one of the standard patterns, which vehicles the law reaches and which it does not, how a refund is calculated and what is deducted from it, and any informal dispute resolution the manufacturer runs are set by the sections in this group and are not fully reproduced here. Used vehicles are not what this law is about. The Ohio Attorney General publishes a lemon law summary, and whether a particular vehicle qualifies is a question for a licensed Ohio attorney.
Sources for this section (3)
- ORC 1345.72 — The manufacturer's duty to repair a new motor vehicle
- ORC 1345.73 — Replacement or refund after a reasonable number of attempts
- ORC 1345.75 — A civil action for a nonconforming new motor vehicle, with fees and costs
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Ohio attorney.