A guy in the neighborhood bought A 09 Camaro SS w/ a 6 speed. I saw him a few weeks later and said to him again "where is my ride". He said the car had to be towed back to the dealership he bought it from. The joint which attaches the drive shaft to the rear sheared off and caused some damage. This is a rubber part. The same as the Corvette he said. Originally the dealer refused to warranty the claim assuming he was beating the snot out of the car. The zone rep was called in. The rep agreed the part failed and GM would warrantee the damage. They would not cover the exhaust that was also damaged because he installed electric exhaust cut outs. They had to be installed almost in the back for clearance and emissions issues. The part is around $1200. Yikes, what a hassle for a car with 1000 miles on it. He said I have not even made 1 payment yet. Stay tuned. Brian.

This is not a happy story but it is not intended as bashing. I just wanted to relay the story. Brian.

The zone rep was called in. The rep agreed the part failed and GM would warrantee the damage. They would not cover the exhaust that was also damaged because he installed electric exhaust cut outs. They had to be installed almost in the back for clearance and emissions issues. .


I'm not sure how he would expect GM to cover the exhaust when he altered it, thus voiding his warranty. I cant think of any new car warranty that allows you to make alterations and the factory will still cover the warranty. :confused:

I'm sorry for him not having his car, but you have to look at it both ways.

The car hasn't even had one payment made on it and electric cutouts were installed? Mike is partially right. Unless he bought the cutouts from the dealer and had them installed there, they are not going to warrant an aftermarket part regardless of how it is damaged. The way car warranties work is that your ORIGINAL equipment is warrantied regardless of aftermarket equipment unless it can be proved that the aftermarket equipment caused failure of the original equipment. It doesn't go the other way around. SEMA and the Magnusson-Moss Act assures that original equipment warranties are left intact with aftermarket accessories installed. However, his insurance might cover the damage to the exhaust.

Oh, and maybe the failure is because it's a 2009. That would make it a prototype since all the ones available for the public are 2010 models.:D Sorry, couldn't resist.

I used to have a modded Stage II Subaru Legacy GT. I lived in Atlanta where there were three Subaru dealers and one actually sold and installed parts and tunes and warrantied them. I moved to Greenville where there was one dealer (at the time) and had one poor nonperformance-oriented warranty experience with them along with them telling me they didn't warranty modded cars. I sold the car not long after that with 15,000 miles on it mainly because of that dealer.

Where did he get an 09 Camaro I want one to sit next to my 69.

I'm not sure how he would expect GM to cover the exhaust when he altered it, thus voiding his warranty. I cant think of any new car warranty that allows you to make alterations and the factory will still cover the warranty. :confused:

Actually that is not true.

The Warranty can only be voided if the alternations can be shown to have caused the failure. Not that they might try to convince you that they can't cover the warranty but legally they have to cover it unless they can prove your modifications caused the failure.

This is enacted in law in the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act in 1975:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnuson-Moss_Warranty_Act

SEMA has also fought long and hard to keep our ability to reasonably modify our vehicles and keep the factory warranty.

Guys,
Forget the exhaust for a second, it still shouldnt have broken