Consumer Protection · Lemon Law
Lemon Law in Ohio
How many repair attempts and days out of service before Ohio presumes your vehicle is a lemon — and whether used cars are covered.
presumption trigger (same defect)
Do I meet the Ohio lemon presumption?
Enter your repairs and downtime. This checks the presumption — it is not a legal verdict.
This checklist is educational, not a legal verdict. Every state writes these numbers as a rebuttable presumption: hitting them shifts the burden to the manufacturer, and the manufacturer can still rebut it. Keep every repair order, send any required written notice, and consult a lawyer about your specific facts. This is legal information, not legal advice.
How the presumption works in Ohio
The prongs that shift the burden to the manufacturer.
The safety prong uses the statutory standard "likely to cause death or serious bodily injury" — NOT "braking or steering," which is an aggregator gloss, not the code’s words. Ohio also has a fourth prong: 8 repair attempts for different nonconformities.
Every state — Ohio included — writes these thresholds as a rebuttable presumption. Reaching them shifts the burden onto the manufacturer to prove your vehicle is not a lemon; it does not mean you automatically win. You may also qualify with fewer attempts if a "reasonable number" of repairs is shown some other way, and the manufacturer can rebut the presumption. This is legal information, not legal advice.
Used cars & leased vehicles
Which of the three coverage categories Ohio falls in.
The full picture, with the source
Every figure, and where it comes from.
| Same-defect attempts | 3 |
| Serious-safety attempts | 1 |
| Different-defect attempts | 8 |
| Days out of service | 30 calendar days |
| Coverage window | 1 year or 18,000 miles from delivery (whichever comes first) |
| Used cars | New vehicles only |
| Leased vehicles | Covered |
| Statute | R.C. §1345.71–.78 (presumption §1345.73; window §1345.72) |
What Ohio car buyers get wrong
Ohio has the most prongs of any lemon law here — four — and two of them are widely misdescribed. Under R.C. §1345.73, the state presumes a lemon within 1 year or 18,000 miles if any one of these is met: the same defect is repaired 3 times and persists; a defect "likely to cause death or serious bodily injury if the vehicle is driven" is subject to at least 1 repair attempt and continues; the vehicle is out of service 30 calendar days; or there have been 8 or more repair attempts for different nonconformities. Two corrections matter. First, the safety prong’s standard is death or serious bodily injury — it is not "braking or steering," a phrase that circulates on aggregator sites but appears nowhere in the code. Second, the 8-attempt different-defect prong is real and unique to Ohio; do not overlook it. All four are presumption triggers that shift the burden to the manufacturer, and Ohio covers new vehicles only.
Common questions
How many repairs is a lemon in Ohio?
Ohio presumes a lemon under four prongs within 1 year or 18,000 miles: 3 attempts on the same defect, 1 attempt on a defect likely to cause death or serious bodily injury, 30 days out of service, or 8 attempts for different defects. Any one prong can apply.
Is the Ohio safety-defect rule about braking or steering?
No. The statutory standard is a defect "likely to cause death or serious bodily injury if the vehicle is driven." The "braking or steering" phrasing is an aggregator gloss and does not appear in R.C. §1345.73.
What is Ohio’s 8-attempt rule?
Ohio uniquely presumes a lemon after 8 or more repair attempts for different nonconformities (not the same one), as long as they fall within the 1-year / 18,000-mile period.
Does Ohio’s lemon law cover used cars?
No. Ohio’s lemon law covers new motor vehicles only. There is no used-car lemon law in Ohio.
Not legal advicePlainStatute provides plain-language summaries of public law for general information only. This is not legal advice. Statutes change; always confirm current requirements with the official source linked above before acting.