Arbitration and Recalls

Two kinds of help sit outside a courtroom when a car keeps failing: a dispute program that hears a warranty or lemon law complaint, and a safety recall that makes the maker fix a defect for free. A maker’s program such as BBB AUTO LINE follows the FTC’s rules in 16 CFR part 703; a state board follows its state’s statute; a recall follows 49 U.S.C. 30120. This section explains each, and where each one stops.

This page is general information, not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Lemon laws, deadlines and required steps vary by state and change. The statute, the maker, a state board or a court decides a claim.

Every rule below comes from the two guides in this section, with its section, read 11 November 2026. We name programs only to explain them; we don’t recommend or rank any program, maker or lawyer.

The reading path

1. A problem that keeps coming back under warranty: start with lemon law arbitration: BBB AUTO LINE, maker programs and state boards. It covers when a program comes first, what each costs, and what accepting a decision does.
2. A recall letter, or a defect you think is a safety problem: read recalls: what the maker must fix for free. It covers the free remedy, the 60-day rule, tires, pay-back and the age limit.
3. Both at once: they are separate tracks; the end of this page sets them side by side.

Lemon law arbitration: three different things

“Arbitration” in lemon law can mean a maker’s informal dispute program, a maker’s program that a state has certified (California and Florida, among others), or a board or arbitration program the state runs itself under its lemon law. Which kind it is decides what it costs and what its decision does.

A maker’s program under federal rules

If a maker’s dispute program meets the FTC’s rules and its warranty requires it, the owner must use it before suing under the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, and its decision can be used as evidence (15 U.S.C. 2310(a)(3)). The main points of 16 CFR part 703 (eCFR, up to date as of 9 November 2026):

• The program “shall not charge consumers any fee” (703.3(a)).
• It must decide “at least within 40 days of notification of the dispute”, going longer only while it waits for the owner’s basic details, or by 7 days where the owner made no attempt to seek redress from the maker directly (703.5(d)-(e)).
• Its decisions “shall not be legally binding on any person”, though the maker must act in good faith (703.5(j)).
• The federal “use it first” rule covers Magnuson-Moss claims only; a state lemon law sets its own rule (703.2(b)). How the Act works as a whole is in the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act explained.

BBB AUTO LINE is run by BBB National Programs for makers that sign up; it is not a government program. Under its national rules (2022), a form not returned by its deadline counts as a rejection, and accepting a decision ends the owner’s suit against the maker on the claims resolved, unless the maker fails to perform or the law provides otherwise (Rule 22I). The arbitration guide covers filing, hearing and decision.

State boards and state arbitration

A state program follows its own statute. In the texts we read, Texas, Florida, Georgia and the District of Columbia require their state program before a suit under the lemon law, Washington requires either its board or the maker’s program, and New York, Massachusetts and New Jersey offer a state program as a choice. Some charge the owner a fee, for example $35 in Texas, repaid by the losing side if the owner wins (Occ. Code 2301.712). Decisions differ too: Florida’s board decision is final unless appealed within 30 days (Fla. Stat. 681.1095(10)), and New Jersey’s binds both sides (N.J.S.A. 56:12-39). The arbitration guide has the full table of programs, fees, request windows and sections.

When a program must come first, and what it does to deadlines

Whether a maker’s program must come first depends on the warranty and the state’s statute: in California, for example, the presumption can’t be asserted until the buyer has used a qualified program they got timely written notice of (Civ. Code 1793.22(c)). Using a program can also pause a state’s time limit, as in Ohio (R.C. 1345.75(C)), though not every state does this. Each state’s rule in words is in the deadline rule lookup, and every state’s full row is in lemon laws in all 50 states and DC. An earlier date may apply.

Arbitration is one step among several. Where it sits next to repair records, written notice and a final repair attempt is set out in how to file a lemon law claim. A lawyer is optional in BBB AUTO LINE (Rule 6); how lemon lawyers are paid, and who pays the fees, is in lemon law lawyer fees.

Safety recalls: the maker’s free fix

A recall starts when the maker decides in good faith that a defect is related to motor vehicle safety or that the car fails a federal safety standard, or when NHTSA orders one (49 U.S.C. 30118). The remedy is “without charge”, and the maker chooses among repairing the car, replacing it with an identical or reasonably equivalent one, or refunding the purchase price “less a reasonable allowance for depreciation” (49 U.S.C. 30120(a)(1), US Code 2024 edition). The recall guide covers the rules that fill this in:

• The owner letter. It goes to the owner registered now (30119(d)(1)) and must name the remedy and the earliest remedy date (49 CFR 577.5(g)(1)).
• The 60-day rule. Failure to repair adequately within 60 days of presenting the car is “prima facie evidence” of failure to repair within a reasonable time; bringing the car in before the earliest remedy date in the notice “is not a presentation”, and NHTSA may extend the period by order (30120(c)(2)). It is not an automatic buyback.
• Tires. A recalled tire must be presented within 180 days after the later of the recall notice or the notice that a replacement is available (30120(b)(1)). For vehicles, 30120 sets no window for presenting the car.
• Repairs paid for before the recall. The maker’s remedy program must include a plan to reimburse owners who paid for the fix within a reasonable time in advance of the notice (30120(d)); NHTSA’s rule says the maker acts on a claim within 60 days of receipt (49 CFR 573.13(g)).
• Older cars. The free-remedy duty doesn’t apply to a vehicle first bought more than 15 calendar years before the recall notice or order, or a tire more than 5 (30120(g)(1)); NHTSA’s reimbursement rule still says 10 calendar years for vehicles (573.13(n)). A maker may still fix an older car free by choice.

To see whether a car has an open recall, NHTSA’s own recall lookup takes the 17-character VIN. By NHTSA’s own page it leaves out some recalls, so a clean result is not proof that none applies. We don’t offer a VIN tool or recall news.

Recalls, warranties and lemon laws: three tracks

A safety recall is federal law (49 U.S.C. 30118-30120) and covers only the recalled defect. A factory warranty is the maker’s booklet, within the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. A lemon law claim rests on each state’s statute and turns on a warranty defect the maker or dealer couldn’t fix within the state’s numbers of repair attempts or days out of service. A recall doesn’t make a car a lemon, and a recall repair isn’t a buyback: a lemon law refund uses each state’s own use-offset rule, explained in how a lemon law buyback is worked out.

Whether recall visits count as lemon law repair attempts varies by state, and our recall guide says we haven’t read it in any state’s statute or case law. If a recalled defect is also a warranty defect that keeps coming back, the repair orders from recall visits may matter, so keep them. The lemon law checker compares your own counts with your state’s numbers; it doesn’t decide a claim.

What to keep, whichever track you are on

• Every repair order, showing the date in, the date out, the mileage and the complaint as written, and for a recall visit, the recall number.
• The warranty booklet, open at the page that names any dispute program and any requirement to use it first (16 CFR 703.2(b)).
• Any letter the maker sends, copies of every letter to it with proof of how it was sent, and receipts for repairs, towing and rentals.

Whether to use a program, which one, and whether to accept a decision are the owner’s choices; the guides explain what each involves, not which to make. Sources read 11 November 2026, as cited on the pages linked above: eCFR Titles 16 and 49 up to date as of 9 November 2026, the US Code 2024 edition on govinfo, and the state statutes and agency pages named there.