[Vabeachdj2001]

I see all of you who have started customizing with performance parts and am wondering what mods will potentially void the warranty should a problem arise. I want to upgrade some things but don't want to risk my 7/100k bumper to bumper.

 

[GT800]

Depends on your dealer and what goes wrong.

 

[Vabeachdj2001]

So to find out about the dealer do we just ask them if they're mod friendly.. LoL

 

[GT800]

It can't hurt. Tell them what you want to do and see what they say

 

[Vabeachdj2001]

Service Manager?

 

[GT800]

Sure

 

[SkittleZ]

Depends on the mods, just keep the old stuff and toss it back on before you take it in...

 

[Stone Axe]

Warranties are like insurance and you never really know how a claim will be handled until you make one - and then the fine print and with insurance those questions you answered will come back to haunt you.

The way I see the Hyundai warranty working is that it is very unlikely that you will have a major claim for the stock drivetrain until you have 80k+ on it - and they know that. At that time Hyundai will not want to warrant the VT's drivetrain unless they make a lot more of them. They will probably opt to buy you out of the warranty, which is in the warranty. They will also look for any legal way to wiggle out of the warranty. The warranty states that any use of non-Hyundai parts voids the warranty.

The dealerships do not care if you have aftermarket parts on your car, but they do log that information. You can't just swap back to the stock parts and expect them to honor the warranty.

On the other hand, the Hyundai warranty is non-transferrable. So if you sell your modified VT before you need the warranty it is a non-issue. Also the VT doesn't cost like an M3 or a 911 so the risk isn't so bad. Once these next 2 cars get the VT drivetrain it won't be a big deal to buy a new one out a junkyard if you do blow it up.

 

[1983Rampage]

The basic things like the exhaust and air filter won't void the warranty. Then your suspension parts won't for the most part. I had asked my dealer what they said was acceptable and they basically said anything that you would normally have to replace after a set amount of time shouldn't cause any problems.

 

[sql-lover]

I am not a lawyer but worked on a dealer for some time (IT department)

The thing is that any mod (I know people will debate this but it is the truth) voids warranty. With the exception of changing oil and filter yourself, if you change any Hyundai part and something happens to the car later, the dealer can potentially refuse to repair under warranty. The reason behind this is not only what the manual and Hyundai says, but because when the car was designed and left factory, it was tested using OEM parts. The car, as a whole, was tested and calibrated using original parts. Any modification will change that, for good or better, and dealers won't have enough information to troubleshoot the problem properly or fast enough.

You can ask the dealer and they can say "it is fine" now. But it something went terrible wrong and was NOT DUE your mods but will cost thousand of dollars to repair, be sure they won't honor their word, trust me on that! They will say they do not remember or this time, your mod broke or affected something; they are not your friend, they exist to do business. Yes, you can argue with them and debate the whole day but at the end, they have the power to say no and you will have to pay no matter what.

 

[13EliteVT]

I am not a lawyer but worked on a dealer for some time (IT department)

The thing is that any mod (I know people will debate this but it is the truth) voids warranty. With the exception of changing oil and filter yourself, if you change any Hyundai part and something happens to the car later, the dealer can potentially refuse to repair under warranty. The reason behind this is not only what the manual and Hyundai says, but because when the car was designed and left factory, it was tested using OEM parts. The car, as a whole, was tested and calibrated using original parts. Any modification will change that, for good or better, and dealers won't have enough information to troubleshoot the problem properly or fast enough.

You can ask the dealer and they can say "it is fine" now. But it something went terrible wrong and was NOT DUE your mods but will cost thousand of dollars to repair, be sure they won't honor their word, trust me on that! They will say they do not remember or this time, your mod broke or affected something; they are not your friend, they exist to do business. Yes, you can argue with them and debate the whole day but at the end, they have the power to say no and you will have to pay no matter what.

While MOST of this is true........we have the Magnuson (spelling) act on our side. It basically says, and you can look it up as well, that it MUST BE PROVEN that your modification was a direct result of the failure of part(s) that are in question. If that is not proven, they are legally obligated to honor the warranty.

I actually had a Soldier that had a Civic SI and he had a few things done to it. Mostly suspension and motor mounts, but the trans went out. They noted the mods originally and when they repaired the trans (under warranty), they messed something up and caused more damage. Once he came back in and fought to get the mistake rectified, that was when they threw the mods in his face. He fought like hell to get the warranty honored, not for the part but for the shotty work performed to fix the transmission, and after all was said and done..........the warranty was honored. that act is worth reading.

 

[sql-lover]

While MOST of this is true........we have the Magnuson (spelling) act on our side. It basically says, and you can look it up as well, that it MUST BE PROVEN that your modification was a direct result of the failure of part(s) that are in question. If that is not proven, they are legally obligated to honor the warranty.

I actually had a Soldier that had a Civic SI and he had a few things done to it. Mostly suspension and motor mounts, but the trans went out. They noted the mods originally and when they repaired the trans (under warranty), they messed something up and caused more damage. Once he came back in and fought to get the mistake rectified, that was when they threw the mods in his face. He fought like hell to get the warranty honored, not for the part but for the shotty work performed to fix the transmission, and after all was said and done..........the warranty was honored. that act is worth reading.

You are correct, but it will require a long legal battle and probably a lawyer. It happened to me (different car) and know few friends that faced the same situation.

Please do not get me wrong. I am not saying that mods break things or warranty should not be honored because you have few of them, but the reality is that when crap hit the fan and repairs get expensive, dealers will use that as a perfect excuse to make you pay from your own pocket.

Just saying ...

 

[13EliteVT]

You are correct, but it will require a long legal battle and probably a lawyer. It happened to me (different car) and know few friends that faced the same situation.

Please do not get me wrong. I am not saying that mods break things or warranty should not be honored because you have few of them, but the reality is that when crap hit the fan and repairs get expensive, dealers will use that as a perfect excuse to make you pay from your own pocket.

Just saying ...

I agree with you brother. I am not saying he got that done in a matter of weeks. He did have to work to achieve that end result. But in the end, IF something that major goes wrong and the stealership says "absolutely not. We will not honor the warranty on 'this' because you have 'that' installed" then you need to make sure that there is no way "that" part caused the mishap or whatever went wrong to need to be repaired at the expense of the manufacturer. As long as you are legit, then there is no reason to avoid the fight. Besides, as you said.......not all mods are going to cause a catastrophic failure.....so just be mindful of what mods you are doing and if at all possible, just throw the stock parts back on before you make a trip to them.

 

[Stone Axe]

The dealership isn't the problem with warranties. Dealerships love getting paid for warranty work. They are actually often on your side when it comes to warranty work.

If you put on new struts or a sway bar and your wheel bearings prematurely fail (technically because of that modification) they are perfectly happy to bill Hyundai for that low cost repair.

The problem comes when you need a major repair like a new motor or new transmission. That becomes very expensive and Hyundai's problem and that's when the fine print of the warranty becomes a problem for you.

Hyundai offers a 100k warranty on their drivetrains because they know that are extremely unlikely to have to honor it. The main reason is that they have gathered enough statistics to show that 99+% of their products will last 100k. And the majority of the people that buy a new Hyundai sell it before their car hits 100k and the warranty is non-transferrable.

I have also worked in IT and extended service plans (ESP) which legally can't be called insurance but can be called a warranty. So ESP rates are calculated by assessing enormous volumes of data and figuring out failure rates and repair costs for hundreds of thousands of products and then tacking on 60-70% to the expected cost to repair or replace. Yes, ESP's are not a good deal.

Anyway, Hyundai has these same kind of statistics and they can use them to prove that 99.9% of their unmodified cars that receive proper maintenance go 100k and the likelihood of one of their unmodified cars failing at like 30k is 99.999% (5 9's or Six Sigma - Hyundai has a Six Sigma rating). That makes a pretty good case for Hyundai in a warranty case when you also consider that their warranty explicitly states that the use of any non-Hyundai parts voids the warranty.

On the other hand, Hyundai arguably makes the most reliable cars on the market and they can handle a lot of modifications without any issues. The VT is pretty much the cheapest 200hp car you can buy so you are not risking that much money. Hyundai service and parts are very affordable and can cost 1/4 to 1/2 as much as Audi, BMW or Mercedes and they only have 20k warranties.

When the VT first came out the big risk was chunking your motor or transmission because it was unique to the VT and it was produced in ridiculously small numbers. You aren't likely to find a VT drivetrain in a junkyard and Hyundai has to take one off the infrequent production line for you. Starting in 2014 the VT drivetrain is going to become much more common and affordable to replace. So that risk is going away soon too.