Interesting read regarding denied warranty for blown turbo and motor

[RedHotVAG]

So I'll start off saying that I am NOT anti-tuning. I recently visited a VW dealer that flashes APR tunes and they made a fairly promising case to me so I've been seriously considering going APR Stage 1.

So I had some time at work to read found a really old post from a TDI forum of a guy who's turbo blew twice and VW denied it and went to BBB arbitration. It's interesting and shocking actually. It's pretty old, but I think it may still apply.

It's a good read! I promise.


First link w/ Background Story:
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=16262

Second link /w more info:
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=12347

 

[YangerD]

Georgetown VW?

 

[RedHotVAG]

Georgetown VW?

Yes! Georgetown.

They said "We'll find a way to get it fixed." Not 100% reassuring... But... I'm sure that's as good as it gets.

I'm having a huge battle going on in my head right now of whether I should get the tune. Argh!!

Take a read of those links! Pay to play I know... But $9800 this guy dished out in the end to fix a blown turbo and motor. That was many years ago, I can't imagine how much it would cost now.

 

[YangerD]

Just flash back to stock before taking it into dealers.

 

[dn0]

I'd wait for the jb4 module.

 

[RedHotVAG]

Nothing? Or are some of you who read the links shitting your pants over how fucked up the VW Area Rep treated the OP on those threads for something that was clearly not his fault?

 

[CarlosCanizares]

Has anyone reverted to stock before a dealer visit?

If so, which tune?

 

[GoTime1]

Has anyone reverted to stock before a dealer visit?

If so, which tune?

yes

APR

 

[RedGTIMK7]

Has anyone reverted to stock before a dealer visit?

If so, which tune?

Yep....and no problem to date

 

[RedHotVAG]

That's great news! How much you guys paying to reflash to stock and back to tune again?

The guy that posted about his TDI in the link, after he blew the turbo the first time, he permanently removed the tune, and the motor blew completely still the 2nd time and the VW screwed him big time, refused to pay, and won at arbitration. I think the problem is not so much on servicing the vehicle, as I think if you bring the car to a VW dealer that as also an APR dealer for servicing, they are mostly quite understanding. It's when there's a catastrophic failure and the VW Area Rep needs to approve repairs, that's when VW tries to screw you, even if it had nothing to do with the tune.

 

[TAZZ1]

Good read indeed. That said, I don't find the story overly 'shocking' if you look at it from that perspective:

1- The guy got a turbo failure on a chipped car; still got his turbo covered under warranty. Lawfully he was not entitled to be covered by warranty, but still got away with it

2- Some time after was unlucky enough to get a second turbo failure; this time the chip was not installed, still had to pay for the repairs and parts; in theory he is lawfully entitled to warranty coverage, but did not get it due to physical traces of tampering (which sucks)

So basically he was lawfully supposed to get covered by warranty on one shot out of the two, and that's what happened just not on the right one.
Taking into account that the repairs were more costly on the second time, he did get screwed on the costs associated with the engine, and admittedly he should have paid for the turbo the first time, but get covered for the turbo and the engine the second time.

That said, what triggered all this is the physical trace of the tampering (silicone, bent bracket etc...) which is quite normal, we all know that the mere fact of tampering with the ECU voids the engine and engine components warranty, irrespective of whether it is established that the tampering has caused the damage at hand, and this is why everyone wants to install a pnp unit that is 'untraceable' or revert to the stock tune prior to visiting the stealership. Having a permanent physical trace of tampering with the ECU is seriously undermining your chances of getting warranty coverage, and puts you in the position where you have to prove that the damage was not caused by the tampering.
I do not know how the BBB or the applicable laws work over there but this is what I logically make of it.

Of course, nothing excuses the attitude of the regional VWoA rep which is outrageous by any standards.

I am not against tuning as some of you may know What I am trying to say is that this story does not impact my decision to tune my car cause I do not find it that surprising all in all.

 

[RedHotVAG]

Well that is true. LOL.

This guy got a raw deal though. $9800 in repairs. For something that technically wasn't his fault, that would make anyone other than the top 1% feel pain. The crazy part is, the majority of the remaining 99% just don't want to pay $5000+ in legal fees just to take these assholes to court over $9800.

On a side note. I found a thread online about a guy in Taiwan that bought a Mercedes CLA and chipped it with Super Chips. The engine blew, and Mercedes Taiwan wants $45,000 USD to replace the engine. What a shocker.

 

[wlfpck]

I think this needs to be pointed out that the two threads posted are from 2000. There has been a significant time period since then.

VW has made strives (How could you not when service quality was so bad before) in their customer service.

Also, the mk7 does not need the ecu to be physically opened.

Lastly...

If you are super worried about warranty, then don't modify. Simply buy a faster car or be content with what you have. If you're not worried, then modify away. There have been cases where people have been running stage 1, 2, etc. and have gotten warranty repair done. The case posted is one scenario from 14 years ago out of a sample size of hundreds? Thousands?

VWoA or VW in general is a business. If they warrantied everything, it will cut into their profits. Before anyone goes into the whole thing about a business providing good customer service, the bottom line for a business is to make money.

Companies will take drastic measures to prevent dishonest people from taking advantage of their policies. In the case that was posted, that customer was honest and got screwed.

Look at all the questions people post about "Will XXXX void my warranty and can VW detect it if I return it to stock". If you look at automotive forums in general (it's more prominent on forums like the scion tC forums), there are always people recommending that a customer return things to stock and pretend/lie to the dealership that their ebay part didn't cause a failure (see scion tC threads about lightened crank pulleys that are not dampened).

Even simple things like people hitting a pothole and getting a flat, they try to blame it on a "defect" and try to get things for free and leave things out like "oh, hit a pothole the size of lake Michigan".

 

[RedHotVAG]

You're right. Because this is my first VW and first German branded car, I'm just being cautious. It costs a shit load more to replace the GTI engine than it does a Honda K Series. If it was a Honda K series, I'd boost 5psi without blinking. But now that we have these turbo issues with the mk7 it becomes a tougher decision to make. I don't really have a feel yet for how reliable my MK7 GTI will be.

 

[The Fed]

Note that VW dealers can detect any tune nowadays. And I would ask APR if their "stock" tune is identical to VW's stock tune. If it is, I believe all it will cost you is the labor to flash to stock and labor to flash to Stage whatever. Are you not a licensee of the tune? That way, you are entitled to it on that car for the life of the car or your life, which lasts longest.