The Importance of Assistive Device Warranty Laws (AT Lemon Laws)
- Sam Shepherd
- Oct 7
- 2 min read
What are assistive device warranty laws?
Assistive device warranty laws, or also referred to as “AT Lemon Laws,” are to protect consumers of assistive devices from making purchases (either purchase or lease) of a faulty assistive device as well as requiring companies to provide a warranty to repair, replace, or refund for the faulty assistive device, all with an emphasis on "nonconformity” of the device [1].
Why these laws matter
It’s essential to protect users of assistive devices from being provided any faulty devices, as these laws were originally created in states out of concern of faulty scooters being provided to consumers without any consumer protection [2]. Regardless of how the device is paid for (medicaid, out of pocket, other funding streams), consumers have the right to remedy when there is a nonconformity in the device that they purchased. To hypothetically put it, if a company rushed a new product into the market that has many faults and not being what it’s described to be, the consumer should be protected from these types of scenarios.
Why the warranty laws needs to cover all assistive devices
Many of the states that have an assistive device warranty law limit the warranty to specific types of devices; an example being a state warranty law only protecting users of motorized wheelchairs [2]. However, when the law doesn’t include all assistive devices, it places a limit on the consumers that are protected from faulty devices. For example, if someone purchases an expensive Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) device with medicaid funding and the device turns out to be faulty with no warranty law protecting the consumer of said device, what is that family supposed to do?
An example of a state statute covering all assistive devices is Minnesota’s, which can be viewed in the following here, going from 325G.203-325G.208 [3]. {Sec. 325G.203 MN Statutes}
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