CONSUMERS FOR AUTO RELIABILITY AND SAFETY

"Unhappy owners of new Kia cars last year sought 'lemon' arbitrations over 100 times more often than Saturn owners, according to an analysis of dispute records by two Sacramento consumer groups.

Kia ranked worst and Saturn ranked best in a list that compared the number of vehicles sold by 14 automakers in California with the number of cases pushed all the way to [decisions in] state-certified arbitrations by buyers who couldn't get satisfaction at the dealer level.

'Crashworthiness and safety should come first, when consumers are deciding which car to buy,' said Rosemary Shahan, president of Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety, which co-authored the study with CALPIRG. 'But this lemon index is something people should definitely think about, too.'

– The San Francisco Chronicle, January 13, 1999

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