"No problem found" doesn't mean no problem existed — it means it didn't show up that day. For an intermittent defect, that's expected, and it often does not end a California lemon law claim.
The short answer: A "could not duplicate" (CND) or "no problem found" note documents one visit, not the whole defect. The customer-complaint line still proves you reported it, and a string of CND visits for the same issue is evidence of a persistent intermittent problem — not evidence that nothing is wrong.
Many of the hardest defects are intermittent: electrical gremlins, stalling that only happens when the engine is hot, transmission shudder that comes and goes, warning lights that clear themselves. A technician test-driving the car for twenty minutes may never trigger it. That's a limitation of the visit, not proof the defect doesn't exist.
California's lemon law (the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act) turns on whether a warranty-covered defect was reported and not repaired after a reasonable number of attempts. Reporting the defect is what starts that count — and reporting is exactly what a repair order records, even when the outcome is "could not duplicate."
Every repair order has a customer-complaint section (often labeled "Customer States" or "Concern"). That line is your evidence: it shows the date, the mileage, and that you brought the vehicle in for this specific problem. Even when the technician's section says "no problem found," the complaint line stands. Save every one of these.
See whether your repeat visits add up to a documented intermittent defect. It takes about a minute to start.
Check my records →No. It only means the symptom didn't appear during that visit. The complaint section still proves you reported it, and repeated CND visits for the same issue can support an intermittent-defect claim.
It often can. Bringing the car in and formally reporting a defect is generally documented as a repair attempt, even when the technician couldn't reproduce the problem.
Build a record around it: video and photos of it happening, dated notes of the conditions, any stored trouble codes, and every repair order showing you reported it. Lined up together, those visits show a persistent defect.
This page is general educational information about California lemon law and does not constitute legal advice, nor does it guarantee any outcome. Every situation is different. Denied Lemon Law and its parent company SecondLook are a vehicle-records analysis service, not a law firm, and do not provide legal representation. Denied Lemon Law is a service of SecondLook — a California lemon-law and vehicle-defect records-review company, alongside My Lemon Check and Case Clarity. Unrelated to criminal-justice sentencing review.