<P> The Magnuson--Moss Warranty Act is a United States federal law enacted in 1975 to protect consumers from deceptive warranty practices . The Act was sponsored by Senator Warren G. Magnuson of Washington with co-sponsors Senator Frank Moss of Utah, and U.S. Representative John E. Moss of California . The purpose of the Act was to make product warranties more easily understood and enforceable, and to provide the Federal Trade Commission with a means of better protecting consumers . The Act does not force a manufacturer to include a warranty with its products but if there is one it must be in writing and comply with the rules of the Magnuson - Moss Warranty Act . </P> <P> The word's use to describe a highly flawed item predates its use in describing cars and can be traced back to the beginning of the 20th century as a British and American slang . The British use is derived from the US use and is less precise or specific: to be "sold a lemon" is little different from "sold a pup". </P> <P> Its first attribution to mean a problematic car was in a Volkswagen advertisement created by Julian Koenig and Helmut Krone as part of an advertisement campaign managed by William Bernbach, all advertising executives with the firm Doyle Dane Bernbach in 1960, which was a follow - up to their Think Small advertising campaign for VW . </P> <P> Economist George Akerlof in his 1970 paper "The Market for Lemons: Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism" identified the severe lemon problems that may afflict markets characterized by asymmetrical information . </P>

Where did the term lemon car come from