Wilbur v. Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. Case Brief Summary | Law Case Explained

Wilbur v. Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. | 86 F.3d 23 (1996)

When you buy a new car, you probably expect the warranty to cover preexisting defects, no matter when they occurred. In Wilbur versus Toyota Motor Sales, U. S. A., a federal law stepped in to prevent a car manufacturer from escaping liability on its warranty.

Nicolyn Wilbur purchased a Toyota Camry from Tri Nordic Toyota in Vermont. The car had been used as a demonstrator vehicle and had five thousand eight hundred miles on it. Tri Nordic informed Wilbur that the vehicle had been repaired after a rear end collision that caused no structural damage.

Tri Nordic provided Wilbur with a copy of Toyota’s New Vehicle Limited Warranty. The warranty stated that it went into effect, quote, “on the date the vehicle is first delivered or put into use (in service date),” unquote. Tri Nordic wrote May eighteenth, nineteen ninety two, the date that Wilbur purchased the vehicle, as the in service date. The warranty excluded damage due to accidents.

A different section of the warranty document stated that the warranty began on the earlier of the date of sale or the date the vehicle was first used as a demonstrator vehicle or company car. This section of the warranty was ten pages away from the section filled in by Tri Nordic and listed under the heading California Emission Control Warranty.

In June, while driving the vehicle to California, Wilbur found that its antilock braking system didn’t work, the trunk leaked, and the car made a creaking noise. She took the car to several Toyota dealers for repair, all of whom refused to honor the warranty, stating that the problems with the vehicle were excluded because they were due to an accident.

Wilbur sued Tri Nordic and Toyota in Vermont state court, alleging a violation of the federal Magnuson Moss Warranty Act, or M M W A, and Vermont’s consumer fraud act. Toyota removed the case to federal court and moved for summary judgment. The district court granted Toyota’s motion, holding that the damage was excluded from the warranty. Wilbur appealed to the Second Circuit.

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