Quote:
Originally Posted by ceb
Like I said earlier, people (customers, techs, service advisers) often confuse terms like "voiding the warranty" and "refusing warranty service."
Here is reality (like it or not)
If a dealership believes that your mod has caused a failure, then they are under an obligation to the manufacturer to refuse warranty repairs on that failure.
If you disagree then you can complain to the manufacturer. The manufacturer will then contact the dealership and get specifics. If the manufacturer sides with the dealership then you have two choices - pay for the repair or not get it fixed.
You can, of course, file suit or go to arbitration (depending on the situation and your state laws.)
Many people file suit. If the manufacturer/dealer lets it come to that, then you can bet your last dollar that they believe that they have enough convincing evidence to prevail.
Accordingly, this whole "Federal trumps state law that trumps..." is academic.
Where the rubber meets the road is that if it goes to court and you have a modded car (that is remotely connected to the failure) then there is a good chance that you might just lose.
Play "Six degrees of Kevin Bacon" and see if you can connect any failure to virtually any mod - you'll be surprised. Play by the sames rules as the court would - the modification of any part has an affect of the next related part.
For example, remember that BMW claims that the suspension is calibrated for the extra sidewall stiffness of RFTs - or that the use of aftermarket LEDs causes a change in the electrical draw, affecting the entire circuit.
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This whole debate started with the concept that BMW dealers could just void warranties and say that a mod voids a warranty regardless of whether it has anything to do with the problem.
I agree that once you get into a finding of facts, you'd better be right because the dealer / manufacturer will have better experts than you. I would always recommend that before you decide to sue, that you at least see an independent mechanic and ensure that he'd be willing to testify as an expert that the mod could not have caused the problem.
In my professional experience working for Ford, as a manufacturer we only got into litigation when we knew with certainty that a modification caused a serious problem. We settled cases where we had reasonable cause, but given the customer bad-will AND the costs of litigation (losing manufacturers have to pay the consumer, and not vice versa), we had to be certain before we moved forward.
Your take on this issue is spot on. The only point I have been trying to make was that the mod needs to cause the problem in order for the dealer to refuse service.