How Mandatory Mediation and Strategic Deadlines Have Changed the Legal Landscape
By the Chad David at the Law Offices of Jon Jacobs | May 2026 | Serving All of California
If you are searching for information about California’s lemon law process, you are probably frustrated. Your car has been in the shop multiple times. The dealer keeps telling you they fixed it. They didn’t. And now you are wondering whether you actually have a case, whether you need an attorney, and how long this is all going to take.
Those are the right questions. Here is what you need to know, including how a law that took effect in 2025 changed the process in ways that make having an attorney more important than ever.
What Is the California Lemon Law?
California’s lemon law is formally called the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act. In plain terms, it says that if you buy or lease a new vehicle in California and the manufacturer cannot fix a defect covered by the warranty after a reasonable number of attempts, the manufacturer has to compensate you. That can mean a full buyback of your vehicle, refunding money to you and taking back your vehicle, or a cash settlement that puts real money in your pocket.
The law also requires the manufacturer to pay your attorney’s fees if you win. That means you pay nothing out of pocket to be represented by our firm. Nothing.
What Does “A Reasonable Number of Attempts” Actually Mean?
This is where most consumers get tripped up, because the statute does not give you a magic number.
California courts generally look at two separate thresholds:
- Two or more repair attempts for a defect that poses a serious safety risk, such as a brake failure, a steering defect, or an engine that shuts off at highway speed.
- Four or more repair attempts for a defect that substantially impairs the vehicle’s use or value but is not an immediate safety hazard.
- Thirty or more cumulative days out of service for warranty repairs, regardless of how many separate problems caused those days. The thirty days do not have to be consecutive.
Meeting one of these thresholds is not automatic proof that you have a lemon. The defect has to be covered under the manufacturer’s warranty, it has to substantially impair the vehicle’s use, value, or safety, and the manufacturer has to have had a fair opportunity to fix it. That analysis is more nuanced than it sounds, which is exactly why getting an attorney involved early matters.
How AB 1755 Changed the Process Starting in 2025
Before 2025, one of the biggest frustrations for consumers in lemon law cases was that there was no structure forcing the manufacturer to engage on a timeline. Manufacturers had every incentive to drag their feet, push cases out as long as possible, and wear consumers down. Settlement conversations happened whenever the manufacturer decided it was convenient, which was often very late in the process after significant time and stress had already accumulated on the consumer’s side.
AB 1755, which applies to all lemon law lawsuits filed on or after January 1, 2025, changed that dynamic in a meaningful way. The law added a mandatory mediation requirement to the litigation process, codified at California Code of Civil Procedure sections 871.20 through 871.28. It applies to manufacturers that have opted into the program. The California Department of Consumer Affairs maintains a list of participating manufacturers on its website, and most major automakers are on it.
Here is what the new process looks like for opted-in manufacturers:
- Early document disclosures: Under CCP section 871.26, the manufacturer must produce an initial set of documents early in the litigation, before full discovery even begins. This gives your attorney an early look at what the manufacturer actually knows about your vehicle and its defects.
- Mandatory mediation on a defined schedule: The case must proceed to a formal mediation session before it can advance to trial. Critically, the manufacturer is now on a timeline it cannot control or ignore. That is a significant shift from how these cases used to move.
- Trial if mediation fails: If the parties cannot resolve the case at mediation, discovery reopens and the case moves toward trial on a standard litigation track.
For consumers with strong cases, this structure is genuinely good news. There is now a defined, earlier opportunity to resolve your case that simply did not exist before 2025. The manufacturer can no longer stall indefinitely.
The Part That Works Against You If You Are Not Careful
AB 1755 brought more structure to the process. It also brought more complexity, and that complexity almost always benefits the manufacturer when a consumer tries to navigate it without help.
The new law created multiple procedural layers that did not exist before 2025. There are specific statutory deadlines tied to the mediation process. There are document disclosure obligations with legal consequences if they are not handled correctly. There are strategic decisions that have to be made at the start of the case that directly affect what you can recover at mediation and beyond. Make the wrong call at any of these stages and you may not get a second chance to correct it.
Manufacturers and their defense teams have spent the last year learning every angle of the new law. They know which procedural moves limit your recovery. They know how to use the mediation process to their advantage. They know what an unprepared consumer looks like walking into that room, and they know exactly what to offer to make that consumer feel like they won when they actually left money on the table.
The short version: the process was already complicated enough before 2025. It is more complicated now. A consumer going it alone under the new framework is not just at a disadvantage. They are operating without a map in a process that the manufacturer’s lawyers have already mapped out in detail.
So Do You Actually Need a Lawyer?
Technically, nothing stops you from trying to handle this on your own. But here is the reality.
The manufacturer has a team of lawyers whose only job is lemon law defense. They know every deadline, every procedural argument, and exactly how to use the AB 1755 mediation process to minimize what they pay out. They are counting on you not knowing what your case is actually worth, and on the complexity of the process leading you to take less than you are owed or give up entirely.
Since the manufacturer pays your legal fees when you win, there is no financial reason to go without an attorney. The process has always favored consumers who have experienced counsel. Since January 1, 2025, that advantage has only grown.
What You Should Do Right Now
- Keep every repair order from every dealer visit, including recall visits.
- Track how many days your vehicle was out of service. Thirty cumulative days is a legal threshold worth knowing.
- Do not contact the manufacturer on your own before speaking with an attorney. What you say and do before litigation directly affects how your case plays out.
- Call us for a free case evaluation. We handle Song-Beverly cases from San Diego to Sacramento and everywhere in between.
Fee Case Evaluation
We go after the manufacturer to pay our fees as part of your settlement when we win. Visit lemonbuyback.com to get started. California consumers only.
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This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading this post does not create an attorney-client relationship. Results vary based on individual facts. Contact our office to discuss your situation.