This case against Honda for a 2010 CR-Z (Hybrid) for a vehicle that our client said would intermittently lose power, the battery indicator would drop to zero battery power, which we had several pictures of, and when they would attempt to accelerate, the car was so slow it was a ife threatening situation if crossing traffic or merginig onto a crowded highway. The dealership claimed it could not duplicate the problem despite four or 5 repair attempts. Honda's factory tech said that while he could make the battery drop to zero, he could not reporduce the no power situation, and that what the consumer described could not possibly happen and that he was simply misperceiving what was actually happening. Our own expert could not reproduce the problem.
The suit was filed under the Virginia Lemon Law and the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. It was a tough case. The Loudon County jury found that Honda had breached it's express warranty in not fixing the vehicle and that they violated the Mag-Moss Warranty Act. It, confusingly, found no violation of the Lemon Law, which is violated if the warranty is breached. In any case, Honda has agreed to pay all legal fees, costs and most damages suffered by the consumer under the Mag-Moss Warranty Act in the amount of about $35,000.00, and he keeps the car. It did not, however, have to buy the car back, as would have been required under the Lemon Law, if we had won on that count.