ORIGINAL: bl1nkage There are many many parts of this that are wrong but a few that are right, Ill come back and correct you later because you are misunderstanding some things.
Well I am not trying to be argumentative here but it really is quite simple:
quote:
The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act:
aftermarket equipment which improves performance does not void a vehicle manufacturer’s original warranty, unless the warranty clearly and conspicuously states that aftermarket equipment voids the warranty (ours does not). Most states have warranty statutes, as well. Which provide further protections for vehicle owners.
quote:
Ford Warranty Book:
Not covered by the warranty:
”Damage Caused by Alteration or Modification * alterations or modifications of the vehicle, including the body, chassis, or components, after the vehicle leaves the control of Form Motor Company.
The above meets what is dictated by the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act and is actually very open because it does not simple dictate that aftermarket equipment may void a warranty BUT any alteration or modification.
I guess what strikes a nerve for me is so many aftermarket companies that take advantage of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act by parsing particular paragraphs that suit their purpose but leave out the important information. They do NOT want the average consumer to know the facts so they spin it their way.
IF an aftermarket company really meant what they stated and really stood behind their product and wanted to back up the BS they tell young people they would do the right thing which is to offer a warranty “3 year / 36,000 miles” to cover any possible damages their product may cause to the vehicle it was installed on and/or cover ALL legal fees for the owner to battle a manufacture in court, regardless if they lost or won the case.
Let’s face it, if the aftermarket companies were so sure they are right, due to the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, then what would the problem be to provide a 3/36 warranty as well as pay all legal expenses since they would win every penny back in court?
Since they do not do this and are unwilling to “really” stand behind their product and spin they put out about the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act they offer no such warranty which means they know, legally, they are just misleading their customers…
I have absolutely nothing against any person who wishes to alter or modify their vehicle, as I may well do that myself, but the owner has to accept complete responsibility for their actions. If they are unwilling to do so they should wait until the warranty is up until they modify their vehicle…
I have read this many times and it really is true:
sonic, i do believe you are overlooking an important statement that you quoted "Damage Caused by Alteration or Modification". Thus we go back to the mma and quote "Fact: A dealer must prove – not just say – that aftermarket equipment caused the need for repairs before he can deny warranty coverage on that basis."
so if my tranny goes and i have a CAi, they must prove in writting, however that may be, that my mods created this problem and it was not cause by a defective tranny part.
I'm glad that the MMA is there. The only thing that concerns me is that I feel that Ford would void your warranty if they want to no matter what the MMA states. I'm sure that you all know that Ford has assembled a team of lawyers, and they are sending letters to all of the aftermarket dealers that have the word Mustang in their business names. Ford is threatening to sue the business if they don't change their name and send them thousands of dollars. The owner of Mustang Plus, the name that the business has had for 25 years, has an editorial in the July issue of Mustang Monthly in which he speaks about the letter that Ford sent him and the fact that it is going to costa large sum of money to change the business name along with the business checks, business cards, new ads and notifying numerous financial institutions of the name change. He also points out that he spoke to someone at Ford and was advised that they plan on sending these letters to ANYONE that uses Mustang in the name, ie., this forum. My point being that Ford does not care, not about the aftermarket dealers that sale cool mods for all of us Mustang owners, or us, the customer.
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06 GT Tungsten Grey with Charcoal interior, K&N FIPK Magnaflow Magna Pak Cat Back Eleanor style grille 12" Stripes painted by Scott Winfield in W-S NC Mirror Inserts from Midwest Auto SCT X2 Tune Short antenna 3:73 Rear end gears
I doubt anyone doesnt believe that this is the law. The problem is, and I have faced it in the past with a different vehicle, is that some of the worse service departments will just deny a warranty claim even when faced with the Moss Magnusson Act. Then what are you to do? Better Business bureau? Lawyer? Complain to Ford? BBB really has no teeth, atleast any time I have dealt with them.(all of two) I did not go the lawyer route myself, I contacted the manufacturer, in this case Dodge. A regional service rep looked into my problem and made the dealer do the repair under warranty. I guess what I am getting at is that if you get an a$$hole dealer, they can make it very hard on you in this situation. In my case, after the first problem I chose to drive a bit farther to a different service department and never had another issue.
I’ll try to make this as short as possible so please bear with me. First, I am not expert and this is ONLY my opinion based on reading not only the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act but many other articles written based off of it.
The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act was intended and is intended to protect the consumer, the person who bought the vehicle, from the manufacture dictating to them, the consumer, that they MUST use the manufactures oils, filters, belts, tires, etc, the list goes on.
Now, a manufacture can FORCE you to use only their parts BUT if they do they, the manufacture, must supply it to you free of charge and free of any labor cost. That is the very short version of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act.
The “Act” will NOT protect you if you install “performance enhancing” parts, such as a supercharger, nitrous oxide, suspension kits, etc. The reason is when you install those kinds of parts you are in fact “altering” the original design of the vehicle and frankly I would stand side by side with any manufacture in any court and take their side.
No one has a right to alter the vehicles original design AND then expect the manufacture to warranty items rendered defective because of said parts. For example if you install a supercharger and blow your motor, transmission or rear-end tough luck that’s your fault and NOT the manufactures.
With that said, the above example would ONLY render your power train warranty invalided but none of the rest of the warranty. People look at the warranty as a complete package and it is NOT, it has many entities to it such as electrical, suspension etc. While one may be rendered invalid the rest is not.
Personally I hope no manufacture would ever have to pay for repairs to someone’s vehicle that puts on a cold air intake and then blows the motor because of a lean condition. If the manufacture was ever forced to do those then guess what? We all pay for the dummies who know nothing about properly tuning a vehicle. Trust me the manufacture will indeed pass that cost along to everyone in the form of higher vehicle prices.
The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act is ONLY FOR aftermarket parts that MEET the manufactures specifications. If you use the wrong motor oil that does not meet Ford’s specifications guess what? You out of luck because you just voided your warranty for failure to use the PROPER specified parts.
The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act is NOT and has NEVER been for aftermarket PERFORMANCE INHANCING parts.
FORD CLEARLY STATES THE FOLLOWING:
From the Ford Cars and Light Trucks 2006 Model Year Warranty Guide (June 2005, Fourth Printing) page 8:
Not covered by the warranty:
”Damage Caused by Alteration or Modification * alterations or modifications of the vehicle, including the body, chassis, or components, after the vehicle leaves the control of Form Motor Company.
That right their my friends should put everybody’s mind to rest because ANY alterations or modifications will void that part of the warranty. Cold air intake, tunes, programs then kiss the power train, transmission and rear-end warranty bye-bye. Lowering kits, kiss the suspension, possibly the transmission and rear-end warranty bye-bye etc…
There are many many parts of this that are wrong but a few that are right, Ill come back and correct you later because you are misunderstanding some things.
I am a awaiting your corrections to Sonic Boom NH's post. I am reading this thread and others carefully, as I am deciding whether to mod with tuner, CAI, gears. Thanks for starting the thread and, again, I look forward to your response to that post. If there are misunderstandings in it, I want to know what they are.
I’ll try to make this as short as possible so please bear with me. First, I am not expert and this is ONLY my opinion based on reading not only the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act but many other articles written based off of it.
The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act was intended and is intended to protect the consumer, the person who bought the vehicle, from the manufacture dictating to them, the consumer, that they MUST use the manufactures oils, filters, belts, tires, etc, the list goes on.
Now, a manufacture can FORCE you to use only their parts BUT if they do they, the manufacture, must supply it to you free of charge and free of any labor cost. That is the very short version of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act.
The “Act” will NOT protect you if you install “performance enhancing” parts, such as a supercharger, nitrous oxide, suspension kits, etc. The reason is when you install those kinds of parts you are in fact “altering” the original design of the vehicle and frankly I would stand side by side with any manufacture in any court and take their side.
No one has a right to alter the vehicles original design AND then expect the manufacture to warranty items rendered defective because of said parts. For example if you install a supercharger and blow your motor, transmission or rear-end tough luck that’s your fault and NOT the manufactures.
With that said, the above example would ONLY render your power train warranty invalided but none of the rest of the warranty. People look at the warranty as a complete package and it is NOT, it has many entities to it such as electrical, suspension etc. While one may be rendered invalid the rest is not.
Personally I hope no manufacture would ever have to pay for repairs to someone’s vehicle that puts on a cold air intake and then blows the motor because of a lean condition. If the manufacture was ever forced to do those then guess what? We all pay for the dummies who know nothing about properly tuning a vehicle. Trust me the manufacture will indeed pass that cost along to everyone in the form of higher vehicle prices.
The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act is ONLY FOR aftermarket parts that MEET the manufactures specifications. If you use the wrong motor oil that does not meet Ford’s specifications guess what? You out of luck because you just voided your warranty for failure to use the PROPER specified parts.
The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act is NOT and has NEVER been for aftermarket PERFORMANCE INHANCING parts.
FORD CLEARLY STATES THE FOLLOWING:
From the Ford Cars and Light Trucks 2006 Model Year Warranty Guide (June 2005, Fourth Printing) page 8:
Not covered by the warranty:
”Damage Caused by Alteration or Modification * alterations or modifications of the vehicle, including the body, chassis, or components, after the vehicle leaves the control of Form Motor Company.
That right their my friends should put everybody’s mind to rest because ANY alterations or modifications will void that part of the warranty. Cold air intake, tunes, programs then kiss the power train, transmission and rear-end warranty bye-bye. Lowering kits, kiss the suspension, possibly the transmission and rear-end warranty bye-bye etc…
There are many many parts of this that are wrong but a few that are right, Ill come back and correct you later because you are misunderstanding some things.
I am a awaiting your corrections to Sonic Boom NH's post. I am reading this thread and others carefully, as I am deciding whether to mod with tuner, CAI, gears. Thanks for starting the thread and, again, I look forward to your response to that post. If there are misunderstandings in it, I want to know what they are.
Sorry about that, I totally forgot, Ill get on it when I get gome from work.
RICHMOD, dont let this be the ultimate decision in your quest to mod your car. remember, every dealership is different and will react differently to your mods, some will try to screw you no matter what and you will be left with either fixing your car or paying a heap of money to fight ford/the dealership. my suggestion is to stop by your dealership and talk to the service manager, if you dont like what his response is then try another dealer.
RICHMOD, dont let this be the ultimate decision in your quest to mod your car. remember, every dealership is different and will react differently to your mods, some will try to screw you no matter what and you will be left with either fixing your car or paying a heap of money to fight ford/the dealership. my suggestion is to stop by your dealership and talk to the service manager, if you dont like what his response is then try another dealer.
Ty
Hes right, each dealership is different but in the end the best way to avoid all warranty problems is to not mod your car at all. For some people that is alright, personally I dont want the car stock because stock is just like every other hunk of metal that rolled off the assembly line. To me my car is more than just a hunk of metal so I will change it to how I like it and make it something that is MINE. Yes, it is against the law for them to revoke your warranty.. will that stop them? Not all of them. Yes some of them are ignorant and will still try to void it but if you are willing (and able money wise) to fight it then more power to you, otherwise, sit back and prepare to be raped of your warranty.
I am going thru a issue with my dealer right now.I asked before i took my car in.
It's going in for the front end popping TSB.They already looked at my car,had to back order the parts.I since installed eibach sportline springs for a nice 2 inch drop.So they called and said my parts are in and bring in the car.I told the service manager i lowered the car,(he's also a buddy),he said you better put the origanal springs back in or they will not do the work under waaranty,and they will take pics of the drivetrain,void the hole warranty until Ford reviews my case.They can void the hole thing and make up **** like,"lowering your car effects the pinion angle at the rear end and puts undo stress on the whole drivetrain"..It's BS,but they figure most folks won't go to court over something like a warranty problem,and i probably won't either,time...money...stress....etc..it's less time...money...and stress to for me to put the origanal springs in.
You won't get rich going to court over warranty issues,you'll get your car fixed under warranty if you win,thats it,not some big windfall of cash...
Pretty much, all this is saying is that if our mod messes the car up, then we gotta fix it. If it doesn't, they gotta fix it. The Act here makes them fix it if it wasn't the performance mods fault, which is the case in my current situation. I put an street legal octane booster in the car because it had an injector cleaner in it aswell. Now the car misses. It wasn't caused by my tuner or intake, so they gotta fix it.
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2006 Mustang GT Satin Silver with Gloss Black Racing Stripes AEM BruteForce CAI Diablosport Computer Tuner Custom Ram Air Straight Exhaust to Standard 40 Series X-Pipe Steeda Economy IMRC Delete Plates (shipping now)
guarantee that if you go into a dealership quotin' "Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act " that the service manager and everybody else is gonna tell you to go f*** yourself.
good info to have in your back pocket, but I'd recommend sweet talkin' your service manager or whohever first. My guy treated me right even though I had s/c and full exhaust put on.
put if you want to go Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act route then your gonna have to get a lawyer and i can't see how your gonna do anything but recover cost (but probly not the legal fees which will dwarf the cost of the repair in the first place)
in my view, don't mod your car unless you can afford or accept the consequences
Try this, tell the service manager you need it in writing that the mod. caused the problem you are having, because you are going to sue the manafacturer that made the mod. that was designed for your car,and it made xyz to malfunction. They would look pretty stupid saying your cai caused your electric window to quit working.\ect. Plus they don't want to have to go to court and try and explain something they can't. I did this on another car a few years back and as soon as I did they backed off and the car was fixed under warranty. I understand if you bring your car in for a miss, or not running right they would have a good case saying your cai or new tune was the fault, however there are dealers that as soon as they see a mod. your warranty is void for everything. How can a loweing kit cause your alternator to fail ? ITS B.S.
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05 GT Prem. A/T Torch Red, black bullit wheels, Paxton Novi 2200 s/c ; dyno tuned by Brenspeed 455 rwhp. Magnaflow cat back exhaust, Ford 3:73 Gear, Coastline Al. d/s, Steeda Deletes, 11.9 117
In the opinion of this group, would a Ford Racing "Performance Package" (consisting of CAI, Pro-Cal tune programmer, muffler kit and oil filter; http://www.fordracingparts.com/parts/part_details.asp?PartKeyField=9398) be considered "aftermarket components"..?? These parts are, afterall, Ford's. Does anyone believe that, in the eyes of their local Ford service manager, a mod using Ford parts would be viewed more favorably when it came time to assign blame if or when a stock powertain component were to fail? Thoughts..?
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RE: Your Warranty! - 
