Quote:
Originally Posted by Stormcloak
That's the thing. They're not proving the "resulting from" part of this.
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At this stage, they don't. This is that stage in the game when the customer files a lawsuit to contend GM's decision. Once it goes to court, it is at that point GM has to show where they determined the part caused the failure.
Now, the tricky aspect of this case, is that they blocked the warranty, and stopped the work before they discovered what the actual issue was. So, not knowing what actually failed, or what actually caused the failure, they may simply have to supply sufficient evidence that a catch can, or change to the PCV system could create loss of oil pressure. From what I read in the original post, we never really found out even if the oil pump did actually fail, much less what caused it. GM stopped the tear down.
I am not an expert on Magnuson Moss, but it seems to me that the consumer protection part of it is more about keeping manufacturers from gouging consumers on replacement parts. If not for this protection, for example, we might be required to replace the air filter with AC Delco, which they could charge an artificially inflated price for, and we would have to pay that or risk losing the warranty.
Adding some thing that modifies the structure or operation of a factory system, on the other hand, creates a situation where a manufacturer can deny warranty. This situation means that it is up to the consumer to prove that the failure was indeed a manufacture defect, and not caused by the modification to the factory engineered system.
Like I said, I'm no expert, but this appears to be where GM is drawing their line in the sand. Whether this is right or wrong, I guess depends on what side of that line you're standing on. Both sides have valid points.
I guess the lesson learned here is that if you are going to modify anything on your car, and still expect warranty coverage, talk with your service manager before making the jump. If they give you the A-Okay, then I might suggest taking the car to that dealer for any issues. Remember, this all started when a tech, at a non Chevrolet dealership had to put in a call to the T.A.C. because he wasn't sure either what the catch can was, or how to go about the repair. A mod friendly Chevrolet dealer wouldn't have needed to do this, and there wouldn't have been an issue. They would've just replaced the pump, charged it to warranty, and be done with it.
And of course, anyone who decides they will never buy GM again because of this case, is free to do so. However, there is no guarantee that any other manufacturer would handle this any differently.