Hi All,
Another post with a statement "once my warranty is up, I plan the following mods..(listed CAI, custom tunes, exhaust, window tint, etc).." got me curious as to people's experience or advice regarding how mods will affect factory warranty.

In my case, I'm considering some mild mods to my 2009 XLT 2WD:
- Leveling the front and putting 33(ish) tires on 18" factory FX4 wheels (replacing my factory XLT 17's and 255/65/17's)
- Installing a cat-back SIDO exhaust
- Line-X (can't see how this would affect warranty)

Thanks for any advice.

 

From what my dealer told me...
Line-x no issue
Cat back exhaust - ok
Haven't ask anything else yet just ask as i go. They did tell me about a guy that just brought in his truck with a blown engine.Turns out he put a k&n system on himself and didn't put it on right and ended up sucking up a **** load of dirt. So no warranty.

Tunes can void warranty too. Know a guy who's power stroke crapped out and he forgot to put it back to stock tune and told him he was SOL.

 

My owners manual mentions that reprogramming the ECU will void the warranty.

 

A dealer/manufacturer cannot void your warranty as the result of you installing an aftermarket part. They must be able to prove that the aftermarket accessory directly led to a failure that resulted in the claim. For instance, if you take your truck in and the radiator blew up while you are driving down the road, your dealer cannot say that you have an aftermarket stereo and not repair it under warranty. The stereo in no way contributed to the failure of the radiator, and as such the dealer must cover it. The flip side of that is if you put your truck on a 6" lift with oversize tires and the bearings on your axles go out, the dealer does not have to repair that. Your aftermarket accessory directly contributed to the part failure you are trying to claim under warranty, and as such is not covered. However, they cannot void your whole warranty as a result of this at that point. They basically have to treat it on a case by case basis, and for every claim either prove or disprove that an aftermarket accessory led to the failure and consequently the claim. Now here is where it gets really complicated. ECU tuners are very hard to disprove as to leading to an engine malfunction. When you use a tuner you are adjusting all of your factory settings for the engine, and as such are making it(whether people will accept it or not) less stable than it was from the factory. So with an ECU, the manufacturer does have to prove that the ECU led to the problem just as they would with any accessory. However, in most cases the ruling will go in the manufacturers favor as it is very difficult to prove, after making that much of a change to the stock settings, that the ecu did not contribute to the failure. So, basically, it is a very common sense scenario. If what you put on led to the failure, not the dealers problem. If what you put on has nothing to do with the problem, dealer must honor the warranty. I hope that cleared it up for you, good luck.


P.S.-The name of the law that covers this is the Moss-Magnuson act, fyi.

 

See this thread here. It explains all.

https://www.f150online.com/forums/20...-warranty.html

"Google the Moss-Magnuson act, it protects your right to modify your vehicle; and the dealers for unjustly voiding your warranty b/c of modifications. They have to prove beyond a reason of doubt that the modification caused the failure."

"That may be true, but it is not how it works in the real world. I used to work at a dealership, and saw warranty's get voided for all kinds of things...they were definitely not a mod friendly place, but that all depends on the service manager. A dealership can simply deny the warranty for whatever reason they want, and it is up to you to prove that your modification didn't cause the failure. Obviously, if you add an exhaust to your truck and the front bumper falls off...it is simple and clear. But when it comes to an engine problem of some sorts and you had an intake, exhaust or tuner...good luck getting ford to honor their warranty, which was provided to cover their parts how they come from the factory. If you want to take them to court, you are more then welcome...and you can definitely win, but what will that cost you in the long run? Especially while your mode of transportation is sitting in limbo while you are trying to get the warranty issues figured out in court, which can take months. Like I said, I saw it happen many times...and never once did I see somebody actually go to court and get the warranty reinstated. I saw some poor kid who had a chip on his mazda protege come to tears when they denied his warranty on his blown motor....the car only had 10k miles on it and was less than a year old, but he had to get a loan for the entire new engine because of that chip."

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"Exactly! K&N can say all day long that it should not void the warranty, and it shouldn't. We can also throw the law in the mix alll we want to, but the real world is, they void the warranty every day for intakes, tuners, lifts, virtually anything they want to. Then you have to decide how hard and far you will fight it. Not many have the funds or time or extra vehicle to deal with it."

 

Ford has the technology, the lawyers and the money to prove whether or not your mod caused the failure. Do you have the money to fight them? After losing MILLIONS on the 6.0 they will not let that happen again.

And you do realize that everyone of us is paying a higher price for our new trucks for every modded truck that "slips" by and is fixed under warranty?

 

And you do realize that everyone of us is paying a higher price for our new trucks for every modded truck that "slips" by and is fixed under warranty

 

You enjoy paying more because others cheat the system? Or are you one of the cheaters?

You must be one of those guys that buys a camcorder for a wedding, films the wedding and then takes it back and returns it. Or buys a big screen for the superbowl, watches the game then takes it back for a refund.

News flash!!! Those products can't be sold as new anymore. Now i have to pay more down the road because of idiots like you.

Warranty claims are the same. Ford allows a certain percentage of their budget for warranty repairs. If they exceed that due to crooks cheating the system- somebody pays- and that is every person that buys a Ford vehicle.

I can't wait to see the guys put a custom tune on their 6.7 or 3.5 blow it up and expect Ford to pay- Good luck with that.

 

Hey guys..thanks for the replies. I'm OK with taking my chances, considering I don't plan on making any severe mods. And at the rate things are going, with a little one (baby, that is) on the way, my warranty may be up by the time I get to some of these things anways!!

 

Just how does this scheme work? I think I'd like to watch the Superbowl next year on a big screen TV. Can anyone get in on this?