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THE LAW. If letters bring no results, the buyer can formally "revoke acceptance" of a lemon by returning it to the dealer and demanding a refund—though the procedure is complex and should be undertaken only with the assistance of an attorney. A disillusioned buyer can also file suit on the basis of the manufacturer's claims about his product. Almost every state recognizes the principle of "express warranty." This means that a manufacturer must live up to any promises made by a dealer or in the company's advertisements. Recent court decisions have held that advertising claims of quality, safety or trouble-free operation carry the same obligation for the manufacturer as a written warranty. Courts have sometimes ordered compensation for the time and trouble that a lemon has cost its owner. In a Seattle case, a buyer got a Buick Skylark in return for a defective Opel station wagon; the difference reflected the loss incurred by the customer in trying to correct the Opel's defects.
LAST RESORTS. When conventional methods fail, owners have occasionally won redress by putting lemon signs on their cars and parking them near the dealer's showroom. One technique that Nader does not recommend was used by a buyer in Oneonta, N.Y.; he shipped his $6,900 Chrysler Crown Imperial back to Chrysler Chairman Lynn Townsend, paying $94 for freight charges. Another owner kept a 14-month diary of his auto troubles and let the manufacturer know that he had sold the story to Road and Track magazine. The auto company paid him a full refund on his car, but the story ran anyway.
Lemons, of course, are often in the eye of the beholder. Automakers insist that quality-control checks catch most ill-assembled cars and that autos today are more reliable than ever. But spokesmen for the Big Three auto companies agree with Nader that the more options on a car, the greater the chance of something going wrong. Automen also agree that letter writing is effective. "When trouble arises, write the company," says a Ford service expert, "but please be specific. Most of our letters from self-proclaimed lemon owners do not include the serial number of the car, when, where and from whom it was bought, or the mileage. How do you resolve a vague complaint?"
Nader and his associates also take broadside swings at cars that, while not strictly lemons, embody hazards in their design. But the main purpose of the book is to provide a continuing voice for disappointed car buyers and to share successful ways of obtaining redress. Nader intends to publish future editions based largely on readers' letters, outlining any new methods they find for squeezing dealers and manufacturers. Not only that, says Co-Author Dodge: "We plan to use the technique of the consumer-written book in other areas."