2023 New Mexico Statutes › Chapter 57 - Trade Practices and Regulations › Article 27 - Assistive Device Lemon Law › Section 57-27-2 - Definitions.

As used in the Assistive Device Lemon Law:
A. "assistive device" means manual wheelchairs, motorized wheelchairs, motorized scooters and motorized wheelchair lifts that allow access to motor vehicles; hearing aids, telephone communication devices for the deaf, assistive listening devices and other aids that enhance a person's ability to hear; and voice-synthesized or voice-activated computer software, optical scanners, augmentative communication devices and Braille printers; including a demonstrator, that a consumer purchases or accepts transfer of in New Mexico that is used for a major life activity;
B. "collateral costs" means expenses incurred by a consumer in connection with the repair of a nonconformity, including the cost of obtaining an alternative assistive device;
C. "consumer" means any of the following:
(1) the purchaser of an assistive device, if the assistive device was purchased from a dealer or manufacturer for purposes other than resale;
(2) a person to whom the assistive device is transferred for purposes other than resale, if the transfer occurs before the expiration of an express warranty applicable to the assistive device;
(3) the person who can enforce the warranty; and
(4) a person who leases an assistive device from a lessor pursuant to a written lease;
D. "current value of the written lease" means the total amount for which that lease obligates the consumer during the period of the lease remaining after its early termination, plus the assistive device lessor's early termination costs and the value of the assistive device at the lease expiration date if the lease sets forth that value, less the assistive device lessor's early termination savings;
E. "dealer" means a person who purchases assistive devices for resale or lease to consumers;
F. "demonstrator" means an assistive device used primarily for the purpose of demonstration to the public;
G. "early termination cost" means an expense or obligation that an assistive device lessor incurs as a result of both the termination of a written lease before the termination date set forth in that lease and the return of an assistive device to a manufacturer and includes a penalty for prepayment under a finance arrangement;
H. "early termination saving" means an expense or obligation that an assistive device lessor avoids as a result of both the termination of a written lease before the termination date set forth in the lease and the return of an assistive device to a manufacturer. Early termination saving includes an interest charge that the assistive device lessor would have paid to finance the assistive device or, if the lessor does not finance the assistive device, the difference between the total amount for which the lease obligates the consumer during the period of the lease term remaining after the early termination and the present value of that amount at the date of the early termination;
I. "manufacturer" means a person who manufactures or assembles assistive devices and agents of that person, including an importer, distributor, factory branch, distributor branch and any warrantors of the manufacturer's assistive device, but does not include an assistive device dealer;
J. "nonconformity" or "nonconforming" means a condition or defect that substantially impairs the use, value or safety of an assistive device that was purchased or whose acceptance of transfer occurred in New Mexico and that is covered by an express warranty applicable to the assistive device or to a component of the assistive device, but does not include a condition or defect that is the result of abuse, neglect or unauthorized modification or alteration of the assistive device by a consumer; and
K. "reasonable attempt to repair" means, within the terms of an express warranty applicable to a new assistive device, that:
(1) a nonconformity within the warranty is subject to repair by the manufacturer, the manufacturer's authorized dealer or a lessor at least four times and a nonconformity continues; or
(2) the assistive device is out of service for an aggregate of at least thirty cumulative days because of warranty nonconformity.
History:
Laws 1998, ch. 29, § 2.