The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act: What Is It?

The federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, 15 U.S.C. § 2301, et seq. (“MMWA”) is a federal statute that regulates implied warranties, express warranties, and service contracts on consumer goods. These warranties must be written — the protection of the MMWA does not extend to oral warranties. The purpose of this act is to prevent sellers from engaging in deceptive warranty practices and to provide legal protection to consumers that purchase warrantied goods. Examples of such products include, but are not limited to, air conditioners, cars, vans, dishwashers, ATV’s, HVACs, refrigerators, motorcycles, RV’s, mobile homes, campers, trucks, washing machines, dryer units, stoves, desktop computers, laptops, scanners, printers, cell phones, and video game systems.

For consumers that purchase vehicles, the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act is considered by many to be the federal ‘lemon law’ statute, because of its provisions that protect consumers who acquire defective vehicles, though it is not technically a lemon law statute.

The federal MMWA is usually broader than most individual state lemon laws, and it is not the same as those laws. Consumers who may not qualify for protection under their respective state’s lemon law(s) may have the opportunity to claim damages under the MMWA. In many states, the state’s lemon law(s) only apply to new vehicles, leased vehicles, or used vehicles that are still covered by the manufacturer’s original warranty. Under the MMWA, as long as a vehicle is sold or leased with a warranty, the purchaser may be able to pursue legal action. Thus, MMWA protection can extend to used vehicles as well as new or leased ones. Additionally, while state lemon laws are often limited to passenger vehicles, the MMWA covers a larger selection of vehicles including motorcycles, motorhomes, boats, and ATVs. In essence, any vehicle may be covered by the law as long as it is subject to a warranty.

The MMWA requires sellers to clearly disclose the terms of a good’s warranty before the sale. Sellers must designate whether they are providing a “full” or a “limited” warranty. However, with vehicles, all are sold with limited warranties. Thus, the seller must provide a complete description of a warranty’s coverage. They should disclose which parts of the vehicle are covered by the warranty as well as how long the warranty lasts for. Other disclosure provisions that a seller should provide to a consumer include the performance obligations of the warrantor in the event that the good turns out to be defective; an explanation of the consumer’s duties or the procedure that a consumer must follow if they discover a defect; and information on any informal dispute settlement procedures that the warrantor may offer.

The MMWA also extends protection to consumers through implied warranties. The most common form is the implied warranty of merchantability which in common law is a guarantee to the consumer of a good that the good that they purchased is fit to be used for the good’s ordinary purposes. A good would violate the implied warranty of merchantability if it cannot accomplish the purpose that it was built for. Under the MMWA, if a seller offers a written warranty, they are prohibited from disclaiming or modifying an implied warranty. For consumers, this means that individuals that purchase goods will always be covered by the basic protection of the implied warranty of merchantability. There is one caveat to this rule — for limited warranties, sellers have the right to shorten the duration of an implied warranty to adhere to the duration of the limited warranty.

If a consumer discovers that their vehicle has a defect or if the vehicle does not conform to the provided warranty, the consumer should resort to their warranty to see the next steps they should take. In most cases, consumers should notify the seller of the defect and bring the vehicle back to the seller or the manufacturer for repair. Consumers should retain copies of repair orders, receipts, and paperwork from each repair attempt. Keeping track of their vehicle’s work history will be of benefit to consumers if they decide to file suit against a seller. While state lemon laws generally are focused on the repair attempts in regard to a single defect that substantially affects the market value of the vehicle and/or safety of the vehicle, the MMWA applies to repair attempts for any non-conformity. If a consumer’s vehicle cannot be fixed after a reasonable number of repair attempts, it is likely that the warranty has been breached. If this is the case, the consumer would be entitled to damages, and will have the right to take legal action against the seller.