Their Titles Laundered, the Cars Are Still Lemons

By Christopher Jensen, New York Times - When Stephen and Michelle Steiner won their lemon-law case against Volkswagen of America last fall, the Stratham, N.H., couple were thrilled. At last they were free of the 2003 Passat wagon that they were afraid to drive.

But delight turned to dismay early this year when Mrs. Steiner, curious about what had become of the car, searched the Internet and found it advertised by a used-car dealer near Rochester as a “perfect family car” with a “clean title.”

The Passat had been anything but perfect. The car had already had three repairs for fuel-pump problems, and the Steiners had become so worried about its stalling that they stopped driving it last summer. New Hampshire had declared it a lemon, so Mrs. Steiner could not believe there was no warning in the online ad about its troubled past.

“I was flabbergasted,” she said. “I thought they would have to let it be known that it was a lemon.”

A few states to the west, Julia and Manuel Moreno found themselves on the other end of a transaction involving a used lemon. In 2005 while living in Wooster, Ohio, they bought a used 1998 Kia Sportage. After a series of problems, they discovered that in 2000 Kia Motors America had bought the vehicle back from its original owner as a lemon. The Morenos said the S.U.V. had steering and suspension problems. To read full article, click here.