warranty voided

[Mid_Life_Crisis]

The definition of TACT: The ability to tell someone to go to hell in such a manner that they look forward to the trip.

 

[ehidle]

The definition of TACT: The ability to tell someone to go to hell in such a manner that they look forward to the trip.

+1: Funny

 

[C.A.T.A.P]

Last time i checked they had to prove that the mod caused the problem and if it didnt they had to fix the broken part.

 

[Darksun280]

Last time i checked they had to prove that the mod caused the problem and if it didnt they had to fix the broken part.

LOL yeah right I learned very quickly that thats not the case. Guilty until proven innocent my friend.

 

[jaydubz]

LOL yeah right I learned very quickly that thats not the case. Guilty until proven innocent my friend.

You know the funny part Darksun, if your dealership found your info on these forums and used that against you, then they should have also found the other 93 posts that reference engine mount failure! LOL, what a piece of work! (uhm)

 

[whitey4311]

Sorry about my ignorance but how are the dealers able to come here and determine who someone is based on a screen name?

Are they really doing this?

A friend has an Evo and he said Mitsu is know for doing the same thing and going to the race tracks to get copies of the ticket slips and peoples names.

I think its crazy work for them but you all deserve it if you are modding and racing then trying to make warranty claims after putting it back to stock then standing there with your thumb up your ass like you arent sure what happened.

Sorry but thats my opinion.

 

[knowledge007]

It all comes down to the dealer. That is final.

 

[ehidle]

Last time i checked they had to prove that the mod caused the problem and if it didnt they had to fix the broken part.

The act you are referring to has been brought to my attention, but I have not had time to read it yet. Unless the act preempts any other agreement to the contrary, it is possible for you to alienate yourself from its protections.

The language in the Mazda agreement does precisely that by entering you into an agreement that makes the warranty unenforceable if you modify the car AT ALL.

I can't remember the name of the Act, but I'll see what I can dig up on it this week if I have time. Anyone remember the name of it?

 

[ehidle]

Sorry about my ignorance but how are the dealers able to come here and determine who someone is based on a screen name?

Are they really doing this?

A friend has an Evo and he said Mitsu is know for doing the same thing and going to the race tracks to get copies of the ticket slips and peoples names.

I think its crazy work for them but you all deserve it if you are modding and racing then trying to make warranty claims after putting it back to stock then standing there with your thumb up your ass like you arent sure what happened.

Sorry but thats my opinion.

Mitsubishi is also about a stone's throw from Chapter 11 at any given time, and their quality is such that warranty repairs are a major drag on their bottom line.

I don't disagree with what they are doing, though. The warranty obviously is not meant (nor required) to cover anything other than "intended use," which is as a "passenger vehicle," not a "race vehicle." I would be perfectly okay with them prosecuting warranty fraud cases against race car owners.

 

[Rany]

The language in the Mazda agreement does precisely that by entering you into an agreement that makes the warranty unenforceable if you modify the car AT ALL.

if you put 18X 8 rims on your car, no matter the offset, you have modified it from factory and there fore according to what you just said the warranty can be voided

 

[Darksun280]

You know the funny part Darksun, if your dealership found your info on these forums and used that against you, then they should have also found the other 93 posts that reference engine mount failure! LOL, what a piece of work! (uhm)

Thats the irony of it all is the thread they got my broken motor mount pictures from the O.P mount broke EXACTLY like mine and he has mods out the ass and they still warrantied him. Me I guess i can just eat a dick.....

 

[Rubasu]

I work as a tech for acura and can tell you from experience that it is really not as easy as you think to void a warranty. We have replaced a number of popped motors due to over revving and missed shifts in RSXs. Two examples that first was a heavily modded out RSX the driver missed a shift and over revved the engine. He brought it in and was straight up honest about everything so we helped him out this one time only. Owner was happy and I made a ton of hours doing the job : ). The second was another heavily modded RSX that guy missed a shift and sent a piston throught the block. He spent the next day removing all of the mods he had on the car as was obvious due to the hacked pcm harness and various missing bolts under the hood. He cleared all the codes and had it towed in as no start and when we pushed it into the shop and found why the car would not start we called and told him we would not cover it because of all the missing pieces from modding the car and the hacked up wiring harnesses. and he told us to prove anything was ever on the car and threatened to get lawyers involved and in hte end it was just easier to fix then to hassle with guy. So the point is be honest you may be surprised by the answer you may get. Also try to talk to the tech himself the service writer has no idea what it takes to do the job and the tech may not have a problem with the mod as long as it does not keep him from doing his job or make his job harder...

 

[jaydubz]

I work as a tech for acura and can tell you from experience that it is really not as easy as you think to void a warranty. We have replaced a number of popped motors due to over revving and missed shifts in RSXs. Two examples that first was a heavily modded out RSX the driver missed a shift and over revved the engine. He brought it in and was straight up honest about everything so we helped him out this one time only. Owner was happy and I made a ton of hours doing the job : ). The second was another heavily modded RSX that guy missed a shift and sent a piston throught the block. He spent the next day removing all of the mods he had on the car as was obvious due to the hacked pcm harness and various missing bolts under the hood. He cleared all the codes and had it towed in as no start and when we pushed it into the shop and found why the car would not start we called and told him we would not cover it because of all the missing pieces from modding the car and the hacked up wiring harnesses. and he told us to prove anything was ever on the car and threatened to get lawyers involved and in hte end it was just easier to fix then to hassle with guy. So the point is be honest you may be surprised by the answer you may get. Also try to talk to the tech himself the service writer has no idea what it takes to do the job and the tech may not have a problem with the mod as long as it does not keep him from doing his job or make his job harder...

That is actually very helpful Rubasu! Thank you for helping! Darksun, is that possible for you to do?

 

[ehidle]

if you put 18X 8 rims on your car, no matter the offset, you have modified it from factory and there fore according to what you just said the warranty can be voided

That's exactly right.

They do not define very well what they mean by "modification," so it places the burden on the owner to clarify in advance - basically to get a blessing from Mazda.

I know it seems asinine, but most people sign all the papers without even reading them, and doing this gives them an "out" argument should the issue ever be forced. They could easily argue in court that you alienated your rights under The Act and entered instead into a general "Agreement not to modify."

Like I've said before, I am not a lawyer, so your mileage may vary, but reading the words in black and white, it is not difficult to see that, in plain English, they can void your warranty for anything they consider to be a modification. The burden is on you to make sure anything you do to the car is kosher.

 

[SuperStretch18]

I know it seems asinine, but most people sign all the papers without even reading them, and doing this gives them an "out" argument should the issue ever be forced. They could easily argue in court that you alienated your rights under The Act and entered instead into a general "Agreement not to modify."

Please keep in mind that the warranty is not exactly like a contract. It is the manufacturer's guarantee on their workmanship. There are no terms that the buyer has to fulfill to get warranty coverage. Look over your paperwork, there is nothing that you signed in order to be covered by the warranty and if you sell your car, the coverage automatically transfers with the car.

The government gets interested in warranties because they want to make sure that manufacturer's honor the promises they make. Please read the Magnuson Moss Warranty Act. It is designed so that a company like Mazda can not get out of the guarantee they place on their drivetrain (for example) if you put new wheels on. They do not have to cover damage that you cause, but they do need to cover everything else they said they would. A line in the owner's manual does not override a federal act...

 

[Darksun280]

That is actually very helpful Rubasu! Thank you for helping! Darksun, is that possible for you to do?

They voided me in the system THEN called me and told me. Also I was out of state at some unknown dealer 120miles away from my house. My dealer back home would have never had done that to me. I got G'd straight up. When I talked to them on Saturday they said no problem it'll be ready by wed next thing you know wed i get a call saying there not fixing it and they voided my warranty.

 

[gr3y]

I was under the impression that they could not void your whole warranty, only refuse to do service or void a specific warranty issue.

Also, I think someone here, with basic legal vocab knowledge should write us up a professional form that we could go to the dealer with, before we add a mod basically saying:

I so and so dealer/tech guy provide this written consent that so and so customer's addition or replacement of so and so mod or part will not completely void his warranty. I also agree to pay said customer $1,000,000.00 USD if I'm a lying SOB blah blah blah blah blah.

Xdealer/tech signature Xcustomer signature

 

[ehidle]

Please keep in mind that the warranty is not exactly like a contract. It is the manufacturer's guarantee on their workmanship. There are no terms that the buyer has to fulfill to get warranty coverage. Look over your paperwork, there is nothing that you signed in order to be covered by the warranty and if you sell your car, the coverage automatically transfers with the car.

The government gets interested in warranties because they want to make sure that manufacturer's honor the promises they make. Please read the Magnuson Moss Warranty Act. It is designed so that a company like Mazda can not get out of the guarantee they place on their drivetrain (for example) if you put new wheels on. They do not have to cover damage that you cause, but they do need to cover everything else they said they would. A line in the owner's manual does not override a federal act...

So noted, thanks for citing the name of the act so I could go read it. If you go back to one of my original posts in this thread, I did demonstrate how they made the warranty booklet, and everything in it, part of the contract. Whether contract law or warranty law supersedes is a question I need to find an answer to. But, any language in the warranty booklet that is NOT warranty-related in assuredly treated as an amendment to the contract.

Anyhoo...

The Act doesn't seem to be as strong as most people here think. It does not supersede normal Warranty Law, nor is it made the dominant law pertaining to consumer warranties, but it does serve to protect the consumer from the situation you mention, and from other things like the manufacturer requiring dealer service in order to keep the warranty.

It does place the burden on the manufacturer to demonstrate that the modification caused the failure, but that is NOT difficult to do for popular power-increasing engine mods. All they have to demonstrate is that your mod caused any part of the engine to operate out of original engineering specification, and any court of competent jurisdiction will accept the argument that any piece of machinery operated out of spec will ultimately fail. My attorney is very clear on this, and as an engineer, I would agree 100%.

The bottom line is that the manufacturer is well within their rights to deny warranty coverage for any problem caused by your mod being there, or by any damage you might do while installing it. I am still researching "intended use" restrictions, but I need to get a little deeper into standard warranty law in order to determine whether they can follow the SCCA around. I forgot to ask about this this morning.

Never a dull moment in this place

 

[john blutarski]

The warranty is through Mazda, not the dealer. From what I've read, no dealer has the authority to void your entire warranty. All they can do is deny a specific claim and possibly blackball you from their dealership for warranty claims.

 

[ehidle]

The warranty is through Mazda, not the dealer. From what I've read, no dealer has the authority to void your entire warranty. All they can do is deny a specific claim and possibly blackball you from their dealership for warranty claims.

All dealers are authorized to act on behalf of Mazda when dealing with warranty claims. They are allowed to make the decision on whether a warranty claim is honored, and the consumer may appeal to Mazda if they do not like the dealer's decision.

Mazda itself does not likely own any means by which to perform warranty service.