We are quickly approaching that point with my 2005 RL and the dead battery problems. Anyone go through the process or can recommend a good attorney?

 

I cannot help you with NJ,
but a co-worker of mine here in NY sued under NY lemon law (& won the case).

His first step was contacting the NY State Attorney General Office, where he
filed a claim under the NY Lemon Law with them (I think that set him back $60 or $160). He had to give them all the paperwork & correspondance info between himself & dealer.

They notified all parties concerned to meet at arbitration, (I believe they set it all up), & the State appointed a case representitive to him (to "oversee" that the proceedings were impartial).

It was optional to retain a lawyer, which he did not do.

Of course, the dealer was represented by a GM rep. & a lawyer appointed by GM. All paperwork, correspondance & charges had to be handed over to the lawyer concerning the matter before the arbitration date. (Anything brought up concerning the case during arbitration had to be disclosed before hand to the GM attorney).

In other words, the coworker who was suing had to disclose everything he was going to divulge to the arbitrator to the GM lawyer first..(6 weeks in advance!).
If he did not tell the lawyer all, he could not bring that undisclosed matter up before the arbitrator. This gave the GM lawyer time to research & answer the allegations that he was going to be hit with at the hearing!!!!!



Steve C.

 

Have you personally spoken with Acura's Representative in your area to see what
can be done to help you? I don't mean some Customer Service telephone person,
I mean the area mgr...in person, face to face.

There are ways to get you into another vehicle w/o lemon lawing....they don't want
the bad press just as much as you don't want the POS car!

 

Just requested a meeting with the GM of the dealership and the Acura area rep; we'll see how that goes.

 

Good luck.

 

Are they meeting w/ you in a timely fashion? When it happens, take
a notebook and write down everything that is said just in case you
need to jump it up another level . For some reason, the people
sitting across from you will know you mean business !

One thing to remember, neither of these guys built the car &
having them on your side is better than the opposite. That said,
don't accept anything less than you feel you deserve. I'd be inclined
to have them put me in a new car!

Let us know what transpires & good luck,

Steve
Seattle

 

well first of all, you should try to find a dealership with legible technicians that can find the source that's draining your battery.

it could be as simple as a door switch or a fuse.
somebody is not doing their job right.

everything that operates in your vehicle with battery power being supplied to the unit can cause battery drainage if there is an actual malfunction in the circuit itself.

just a little time consuming for a technician, but it can be fixed. Your car is not a lemon. It's just a car with an electrical problem that could be from a variety of different sources and whoever is working on the car is probably very lazy and doesnt want to be bothered...

i would advise taking your car to a shop that actually knows what they're doing...

good luck.

 

I agree with much of your post. It absolutely is something that can and should be fixed. There is something definitely drawing current when the car is off and it is a matter of figuring out what that is. However, this can be a time consuming and tedious process and each time something new is identified as a possible problem area, the car must be left to sit for several days to see if it will start. For that reason, my car has now been at the dealer for 3 weeks while they sort this out.

Since I am presently in discussions with the dealers management and Acura as to potentially replacing the car, I won't give you the name of the dealer at this point. However, they have a good reputation and their service department is excellent. So, I don't think it is a matter of being lazy, just that this is a very sneaky kind of problem to isolate and fix. And you are right, the car is probably not a "lemon" in the classic sense of the word but at this point, I am entitled to relief under the "lemon law" and that option is available to me if I choose.

 

Update?

 

Have had the car back now for about 10 days. Turned out that the problem was the replacement XM radio unit that was installed back in July. It was drawing current when the car was turned off and was killing the battery when the car sat for more than 2 days. No such problems exist now even when activating the trunk release after turning off the car and letting it sit for several days.

Acura CS and the dealer were very cooperative in all aspects of this issue. Had a TSX and later on an RL as a loaner car throughout the time my car was in the shop. For my inconvenience (the car was out of service for 3 weeks), Acura threw in an extended warranty. Since the car is only 6 months old and has 6,000 miles on it, I can still pursue other remedies down the road if the problem reoccurs but I do believe that this is the end of it.

 

Great news..thanks for the follow-up! Glad you persisted and Acura
came through w/something for you. Any changes please let us know.

 

www.lemonlaw.com

I used them to return my 2004 Volvo XC90 and got all my lease $ back.