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Fix the Hog: Harley, Westinghouse ordered to fix warranties:
Federal regulators have accused Harley-Davidson and Westinghouse of imposing illegal warranty terms on customers and ordered them to fix their warranties and ensure that their dealers compete fairly with independent repair-makers.
The companies have imposed illegal warranty terms that voided customer warranties if they used anyone other than the companies and their authorized dealers to get parts or repairs — restricting their options and costing them more money, the Federal Trade Commission announced Thursday in actions against the Milwaukee motorcycle maker and MWE Investments, which makes Westinghouse-brand outdoor power generators and related equipment.
Under a proposed consent agreement with the agency, the companies will be prohibited from telling customers that their warranties will be voided if they use third-party services or parts, or that they should only use branded parts or authorized service providers.
The companies also will be required to add specific language to their warranties recognizing consumers' right to repair: "Taking your product to be serviced by a repair shop that is not affiliated with or an authorized dealer of (company name) will not void this warranty. Also, using third-party parts will not void this warranty."
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Immerman on Sunday June 26 2022, @02:49PM (2 children)
As I recall, generally speaking if the warrantying company can show that the otherwise-covered damages were caused by your unapproved modifications, then they are not liable. And I imagine using non-stock replacement parts would fall under that heading.
The key is that they have to actually show a causal link between the modifications and the damage - they can't just say that your use of used a non-approved muffler voided your warranty, and so they're not liable for replacing the front end that failed due to a manufacturing defect.
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Sunday June 26 2022, @03:03PM (1 child)
I wouldn't want to deal with that legal nightmare. Proving that would be exceedingly difficult.
I have here a spark plug that kinda works, but isn't exactly the plug I would recommend. Now the engine exploded. Is it due to that plug or not? How would you want to determine that? It's one of those "It works out in 9 out of 10 cases, in the 10th, though, you're dead" things.
We need a solution, but it's not going to be easy.
(Score: 2) by vux984 on Monday June 27 2022, @01:40AM
In general, if the engine has been modified, or repaired with shoddy parts then you could void the warranty when it explodes. In the specific example you give, I'd argue that if all the customer did was use a different brand spark plug then you'd probably still be on the hook though -- if your engine explodes due to an off brand spark plug, it'll explode using a defective OEM brand spark plug too, and it shouldn't do that. I'd argue that's on you; in any case there ARE going to be edge cases.
And what if the customer comes in because the transmission isn't working, or his GPS navigation is acting up... you going to blame that on his off brand plugs too, and automatically deny warranty? That's not right.
I agree there's some edge cases, but litigating the edge cases as they happen is a better solution than allowing that.