Scion Boost/Warranty Issues with Mods? - Toyota GR86, 86, FR-S and Subaru BRZ Forum & Owners Community

Marusich · 09-05-2013, 03:59 AM

I was just curious if anyone has had any difficulty either getting their service done or with non-mod related warranty work on vehicles that have performance mods, ie. catback, intake, etc. I'm aware of the Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act, I just wanted to hear from anyone with first hand experience.

midnight23 · 09-05-2013, 05:49 AM

have full exhaust and tune and went in for my complimentary oil changes 3 times so far and all they give me is compliments.

asphaltkyle · 09-05-2013, 06:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by midnight23

have full exhaust and tune and went in for my complimentary oil changes 3 times so far and all they give me is compliments.

Are you running catless?

midnight23 · 09-05-2013, 06:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by asphaltkyle

Are you running catless?

yup!

Eurasianman · 09-05-2013, 09:23 AM

I do not think the dealer is going to really care about your mods until you bring the car in with a CEL on or try to get some thing mechanically broken fixed under warranty. Just my $0.02.

DJCarbine · 09-05-2013, 09:57 AM

No bid deal. When I went in all the techs just popped my hood and crowded around, then the service manager told them to get back to work and asked me if he could pull my car into the service bay so he could drive it.

No problem getting service done, however a warranty claim might be different.....

frslee · 09-06-2013, 02:01 PM

I have intake/catback exhaust. Dealer didn't say a word. I'm pretty the techs enjoy looking at my car.

FastWhite · 10-09-2013, 08:19 PM

I also have a BRZ that I autocross.
The salesman that sold it to me is now in the technical dept. he has stated that SOA has become very anal about ANY ECU flash.
If they find a reflash, there will be most likely
a denial of the engine warranty.
I autocross the car, RTR, the dealer is fully aware of what I am doing. They sponsor me and the salesman got me into it. I have been told, don't have it in writing, that if I do an exhaust, intake that they will not worry about it.
But then again, words are words not actions.
So for all us that MOD, we are aware that YOU PAY TO PLAY, includes warranty issues.
And then again the same salesman said an STI with 12k on it blew the motor. He took in, with Cobb programming on it, they denied his claim,SOA. But when they downloaded the ECU they gave him a new motor/rebuild.
We are at the car gods whimsy.

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Dephective · 10-10-2013, 03:48 AM

For all of those that go in with mods to do simple service, good luck trying to get any claim down the road. Most of these dealerships flag your car in the system for having obvious modifications whenever the car comes in. So next time you go in, say 50k miles later, and need a new motor, they will say "sorry, you've made modifications to the drivetrain" and subsequently deny your claim. Magnuson-Moss Act, as you are aware, only protects the consumer in the case that the modification isn't directly related to the issue in the claim, I.E if my radio goes out, but I have an exhaust on my car, they can't deny a claim. Don't underestimate dealerships or Toyota/Subaru North America. They look up local autocross and track events to flag owners that compete and record that in their system. Mistubishi did this for years when Evo's were coming in with destroyed drivetrain bits. Gotta pay to play.

Stocking the car back out for dealership visits, even if its something trivial, may be a pain in the ass, but could save thousands in the future. It's a moral grey area, and people cry fraud! but unless you sign a document when authorizing the work that you swear that to your knowledge that it hasn't been modified, there are zero legal issues. You have to read the fine print. In other words, withholding information isn't lying until questioned directly.

bfrank1972 · 10-10-2013, 09:27 AM

I see people giving Subaru and Toyota lots of flak over denial of warranty when it comes to mods, but just think about it from their perspective. Car modding is a bigger craze than ever, it's huge business. Manufacturers are seeing many more claims now for failures on cars with mods. It forces the manufacturers to tighten down on their interpretation of warranty coverage - not necessarily because they think many of these minds are breaking the car (I'm sure there are some), but just think about the sheer number of cases now where they would have to analyze the impact of the mods for each case. Sounds expensive to me.

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jflogerzi · 10-17-2013, 01:24 AM

No issues here. Catback with an intake an tune.

Marusich · 10-17-2013, 01:26 AM

Just took mine in for HPFP and oil change. No issues with catback.

09-05-2013, 05:49 AM	#2
midnight23 dying bird under the hood Join Date: Mar 2013 Drives: 2013 SWP Limited BRZ Location: Disneyland, California Posts: 1,331 Thanks: 546 Thanked 451 Times in 295 Posts Mentioned: 34 Post(s) Tagged: 0 Thread(s)	have full exhaust and tune and went in for my complimentary oil changes 3 times so far and all they give me is compliments. __________________ GReddy Turbo BRZ tuned by Evasive Motorsports Build Thread Instagram

09-05-2013, 09:23 AM	#5
Eurasianman Chief Join Date: Feb 2012 Drives: 2013 DGM BRZ Premium 6MT Location: USA Posts: 573 Thanks: 145 Thanked 178 Times in 126 Posts Mentioned: 8 Post(s) Tagged: 0 Thread(s)	I do not think the dealer is going to really care about your mods until you bring the car in with a CEL on or try to get some thing mechanically broken fixed under warranty. Just my $0.02. __________________

09-05-2013, 09:57 AM	#6
DJCarbine Thupercharged Join Date: Mar 2013 Drives: 2013 FR-S Location: La Grange Park, IL. Posts: 1,501 Thanks: 116 Thanked 751 Times in 439 Posts Mentioned: 23 Post(s) Tagged: 0 Thread(s)	No bid deal. When I went in all the techs just popped my hood and crowded around, then the service manager told them to get back to work and asked me if he could pull my car into the service bay so he could drive it. No problem getting service done, however a warranty claim might be different..... __________________ 2013 FRS Vortech V3 11psi Revworks UEL - PLM Overpipe - MOTIV catted frontpipe - Invidia Q300 2019 Series.Grey STI - Stage1+ SF

10-10-2013, 03:48 AM	#9
Dephective Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2013 Drives: '13 Whiteout FRS Location: Bay Area, Florida Posts: 233 Thanks: 110 Thanked 79 Times in 58 Posts Mentioned: 2 Post(s) Tagged: 0 Thread(s)	For all of those that go in with mods to do simple service, good luck trying to get any claim down the road. Most of these dealerships flag your car in the system for having obvious modifications whenever the car comes in. So next time you go in, say 50k miles later, and need a new motor, they will say "sorry, you've made modifications to the drivetrain" and subsequently deny your claim. Magnuson-Moss Act, as you are aware, only protects the consumer in the case that the modification isn't directly related to the issue in the claim, I.E if my radio goes out, but I have an exhaust on my car, they can't deny a claim. Don't underestimate dealerships or Toyota/Subaru North America. They look up local autocross and track events to flag owners that compete and record that in their system. Mistubishi did this for years when Evo's were coming in with destroyed drivetrain bits. Gotta pay to play. Stocking the car back out for dealership visits, even if its something trivial, may be a pain in the ass, but could save thousands in the future. It's a moral grey area, and people cry fraud! but unless you sign a document when authorizing the work that you swear that to your knowledge that it hasn't been modified, there are zero legal issues. You have to read the fine print. In other words, withholding information isn't lying until questioned directly. __________________ Previous: '01 Accord-daily '93 Rx7-fire breathing track monster 545hp 397tq 2300lb. '06 Mazdaspeed6 one helluva love-hate relationship

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09-06-2013, 02:01 PM	#7
frslee Just drive it Join Date: Mar 2013 Drives: 13' FR-S Location: Maryland Posts: 1,122 Thanks: 97 Thanked 321 Times in 218 Posts Mentioned: 10 Post(s) Tagged: 3 Thread(s)	I have intake/catback exhaust. Dealer didn't say a word. I'm pretty the techs enjoy looking at my car.

10-10-2013, 09:27 AM	#10
bfrank1972 Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2013 Drives: 2013 FR-S Argento Location: Westport,CT Posts: 1,855 Thanks: 517 Thanked 1,041 Times in 616 Posts Mentioned: 7 Post(s) Tagged: 1 Thread(s)	I see people giving Subaru and Toyota lots of flak over denial of warranty when it comes to mods, but just think about it from their perspective. Car modding is a bigger craze than ever, it's huge business. Manufacturers are seeing many more claims now for failures on cars with mods. It forces the manufacturers to tighten down on their interpretation of warranty coverage - not necessarily because they think many of these minds are breaking the car (I'm sure there are some), but just think about the sheer number of cases now where they would have to analyze the impact of the mods for each case. Sounds expensive to me. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk - now Free

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