Quote:
Originally Posted by hawk02
The key words here are “after market part”. The whole point of the Magnuson-Moss act was to keep manufacturers from voiding the warranty if you didn’t use their replacement parts. In other words, it keeps GM from voiding your warranty if on your next oil change you install a Mobil I oil filter instead of an AC Delco. Or you replace the brake pads with ones from Powerstop. It does not cover making a modification to the OEMs original design.
Installing a Roto-Fab cold air intake modifies GMs original intake design. They are not obligated in any way to honor the warranty if your engine drops a valve. How can they, they haven’t certified the reliability of their powertrain with a Roto-Fab cold air intake.
Before approving any major powertrain repair under warranty, GM will ask the dealer for a photo of the engine bay. You can bet if they see a 3rd party cold air intake installed, your powertrain warranty will be flagged void.
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Just a comment, and I'm absolutely not trying to knock your post, sincerely, because my assumption is that you truly have the best intentions. Bear with me because this will be a little bit psychology 101. You make a declarative statement of fact about what GM WILL do. If you are the GM rep (or someone in that department) who processes warranty claims then you absolutely have a leg to stand on and your statement is valid. Or if you are a lawyer who has experience with these types of warranty claims then you also have a leg to stand on. If not then all you can say is "I think this is what will happen......." Your statement does not jive with what my local Chevy dealer said when I asked very specifically if a CAI would void the powertrain warranty. What I got back was a reasonable answer that to me makes sense. They said, "It could possibly void the warranty on parts it directly interacts with." So the first question is obviously what parts does a CAI interact with? I don't know the answer. The blower? The MAF? What else? And that's really my bigger point. Unless you have direct knowledge and experience with this issue then all you can do is make an educated guess. We are all enthusiasts and we ask these questions on the forums to get what we think is good information from fellow enthusiasts. Of course all of us want that "guarantee", but that's not gonna happen. It's a risk/reward proposition that we each have to weigh. I personally think the risk is very low, first off that the engine is gonna "blow up" or "throw a rod" and second that my local dealer is gonna dig hard to find out if I had a CAI (I would change it back to stock before taking it in). The reward to me is pretty nice. A relatively low cost part that enhances the car in a cool way. Not significant, but to me the sound, the crisper throttle response, the look. But that's me. Others won't care and that's fine.
Cold Air Inductions has a pretty definitive statement front and center on their website that says a CAI will not void a warranty. It's in their FAQs section.
Anyone can look it up. We can go all day back and forth talking about GM lawyers vs Cold Air Inductions vs what we think. Bottom line is none of us truly KNOW 100% what will happen. Every case will be different, dealers will be different. Some are mod friendly is my understanding, some aren't.
So my final point would be if there is someone who actually is a lawyer that has experience with warranty claims or someone here works at GM that can give a more definitive answer about what would happen then please pipe up. Otherwise I would recommend people stay away from declarative statements about what would happen.
Having said all that, I think your mindset is probably a smart one to go with. Assume the worst case scenario. If my engine blows up and GM denies my claim because I had a CAI in the car (that they were able to determine only through codes) then I'll buy a new motor. My wife will be pissed at me for a bit and I'll never put a CAI in again, but I'm willing to go that far.
Again, sincerely, you make some very well thought out statements in your post. I just had an issue that it was presented as factual/100% what would happen.