Add turners,CAIs,lifts,big tires and repeat "I'm my own warranty station" another old saying from the diesel sites. The few I was ever drug into court over the manufacture won.

 

No read the law, the burden of proof is on the MANUFACTURER to show that the modification caused the failure. I've had to use an attorney to fight a warranty claim on a Furd I had that dropped a piston with 14k miles on it that I put a body lift, CAI and Cat-back exhaust on and was refused warranty repair. Trust me, I know Magnuson/Moss like the back of my hand.

All it took was a certified letter sent by my lawyer that CLEARLY stated a couple of excerpts from the law and the threat to file a suit against both Ford and the dealership. Four days after the letter went out, my attorney was contacted by both the owner of the dealership AND a Ford regional service rep who both stated that I must have "misunderstood" the service manager and "of course this matter will be resolved under warranty"!!! (like you can "misunderstand" a man in front of you telling you "you've modified the truck, your warranty is null and void").

All you have to do is KNOW YOUR RIGHTS and call them on it!!!


Now obviously, if you modify your vehicle and it messes up your truck, you're f*cked!!! You pretty much have to weigh out how bad you want the truck the way you want it vs. a chance you'll cause a problem that would void a warranty repair. I am in no way saying "go ahead and drop a cam in that truck, you're fine". What I am saying is if you do some minor modifications and your truck has an issue which is not directly related to the mod(s) they cannot legally refuse you warranty repair.

 

The frequency of major repair is greatly enhanced over modded vehicles then stock.The manufactures track these figures and its blatant.Use common sense.if YOU warrantied a item that came in torn up due to the owner enhancing its performance would YOU pay for it.I bet not.I can remember never seeing a seized ac compressor on anything.Then having a lifted truck come in with one seized.I know the lift shouldn't,couldn't do such yet it seemed to coincidencedental.

 

Yes, In theory the burden of proof that an aftermarket modification caused a failure is on the manufacturer. But sometimes you have to spend some big bucks with a lawyer to force the issue in your favor.

I've found by spending little bucks with my dealership for service interval items that when warranty issues arise; they go to bat for me regardless of any mods (within reason).

Case in point: I had a chronic overheat issue when towing in hot mountainous terrain so I replaced the stock radiator with a custom oversize one.

4,000 miles out of warranty I experienced some unusual rough idling and the dealership overhauled both heads (due to slight head gasket failures and compression tests out of limits) - UNDER WARRANTY, presumably because I had consulted with them about the issue prior to warranty expiration and paid for 2 coolant system flushes. They queried me about the aftermarket radiator but did not contest the warranty claim.

 

I've been following this thread to see if a Superchip's rep would jump in and say something. I guess this really answer's the question about the warranty thing. Funny how when something is good they jump on but when bad they stay away. Personally I have learned that the best way to get customer's is to fix the hard issues and show that you stand behind your product. Would be nice to see Superchips help this guy out. I know they don't have to but could you imagine the publicity that they would get over it. On the othere side I guess they need to be careful because then everyone would jump on them and it would open them up to future lawsuit's. Oh well, I had my two cents on this issue.

 

If superchips helps it will hurt them...

It sets a precedent that;

1)they admit that their products cause damage
2)that if warranty work is refused by the manufacturer, they will pay for it.

think about it... the margin on a 350 dollar programmer is what, 300 bucks? How many of them do you have to sell to cover the cost of ten 14,000 blown motors.

As to MM... your case seems to be your dealer being a dick, Hammer. The only possible connection between a bad cylinder and your mods is a change in back pressure, a tenuous link to say the least. If you have a front suspension problem and you have a leveling kit, you are probably going to have to pay for the repairs. If you put really heavy wheels on your truck and you snap an axle shaft, you are paying for it...

Proving that the mod caused the problem is a simple matter of saying that the mod took the damaged part beyond its engineered capacity, be that angle of a half shaft or torque in a tranny.

Also if you sue, you WILL be counter sued. If you loose YOU are going to be paying the 200 billed hours at $500 an hour that Dodge wracks up, along with court costs etc.

Remember what the laws SAYS and what it means can be two things... despite the clear wording of the 2nd Amendment, try bearing your arms in down town LA and see if you get arrested.

Remember the MM act was designed to protect people from having to use OE parts and service. It was intended to allow the use of aftermarket parts which met the same minimum specifications as the OE parts. As such all the manufacturer has to do to prove that a failure is due to the aftermarket part is to show that the part took the affected system beyond (or below) its designed specification.

In short, you cannot loose the coverage on your rear diff for using a K&N drop in filter, however you can be refused coverage on your MDS if your use non spec (like Amsoil) or incorrect weight oil.

 

This has been going on in the diesel world for quite a while.I remember back when I had my '01 a TSB came out detailing what and where to look for evidence of power adders. Since the increased availability of programmers, they have added things like key on counters, flash counters and so-on. Dodge added encrypted ECM's to the mix a year or so ago. If a non-oem flash was attempted the ecm would set a code and the truck would have to be towed to the dealer. Repairs at your expense. The aftermarket found a way around the encryption, so back to programming. That programming is still detectable and will still void the drivetrain warranty. There are some products that add power without flashing the ecm, they still leave a trail because of the recorded parameters being "beyond stock parameters".

I'm sure the detection capability is there for gas vehicles, as well. I don't know if they have gone to locking the ecm's yet, though.

Oh, and the MM Act, allows you to buy an oe equivalent oil filter at autozone instead of having to buy one at Dodge. It doesn't allow you to add 10 hp with a programmer or cold air kit. I'm pretty sure I've read about GM denying warranty repairs for MAF sensors due to oiled (k&n) air filters. No, they didn't void the entire warranty only the part that was directly affected.

Jeff.

 

I brought my truck in for a check up a couple of months ago and got to hear first hand a similar situation where a diesel engine blew on a truck under warranty. (over 20k+ in repairs) I was in the service managers office while they were discussing whether or not they could force the oil filter company to split the repair cost. As quoted from the service manager: oh..I don't have any problem paying for half of the cost, but the other half is going to be between the owner and the oil filter company!!!This was Mark Dodge in Lake Charles Louisiana and they seemed set on their findings putting the blame on the oil filter failure as the reason. I heard a mechanic saying that the oil filter failed in preventing pieces from traveling through the oiling system. I sat there and thought to myself, how in the world can they get away with this. When an engine blows there's a good chance of finding engine parts in the filter...that's what it's there for, lol! So I laughed sarcastically, and I asked them...so in other words if my engine blows and I have an oil filter that was installed at walmart or a Jiffy Lube it will void my warranty? They said..oh no, that's okay...this is different. When I asked what was so different about it they said it was a filter bought from an auto parts store and was put on by the owner...I thought what a bunch of yahoos! I didn't express my feelings to them because my truck as being looked at but I got a bad impression of what's to happen with my repairs if I ever need any!

 

Bet there was more to it then that.Little dealer near me had one needing a turbo and possibly more.They had done a tear sheet of needed maintance a week before on the truck.One thing was a air filter.Owner bought a cheapo and installed it himself.It had collapsed and got sucked into the turbo.Cummins has a APPROVED oil filter list.There has been oil filter failures were the filter media went through crank/bearings and such. For that 'dealer' to pay half Chrysler has to be involved cause it not the dealer(service managers) call. Chrysler rep has to be involved due to the dollar amount or a half offer etc.Got to be more to it.

 

Well maybe I'll get to find out more info on it because I'm going in this week for some RRT's that they couldn't get to because of rain that day. It had started storming and they told me it wasn't a good idea to reflash during the bad weather like that...that sucked! The issue should have been resolved by now and I can ask about the outcome and details. They did seem pretty nice...I just thought they were full of $hit but maybe I was wrong, I'm very curious now.