Electrical Warranty Question

Hey all,

I know this has been asked before and I've read through the threads I could find...but it's mostly been asked about lifts and body mods moreso than electrical mods. I know the warranty states that any electrical mod voids electrical warranty, but I wanted to know if anyone had any personal experience with this. I also know about the Magnuson-Moss Act but I don't know too much about the electrical system of cars and don't know if they could blame one problem on another because the electrical system has been tampered with. There's so much I want to do, but I'm worried that I would have some completely unrelated electrical issue come up and them to say it's not covered because they can see I've done mods.

This is the list of what I want to do currently:
Fog light "anytime" mod
Illuminated 4x4 switch mod
Bed lights
Under hood lights
Always on rear view camera (with a switch)
Auto up/down all four windows

Can they really void your electrical warranty if you install something as simple as aftermarket light strips?

I guess I have TW to blame for wanting to do all this. If I wasn't aware of all this cool crap I could do then I guess I wouldn't be asking this question! Lol

 

They(the dealership) would have to prove that your modification caused damaged, or damaged the OEM equipment. It's the same to other mods that people install. The mod would have to make the OEM equipment to fail for them not to warranty it. They can not void a warranty just for you adding something, so mod away. The only time the warranty would be warranted is if the dealership(or dealership approved) company installed the aftermarket part and it failed. If you did the work and messed it up then they won't warranty it.

 

The issue is with the Tacoma that a lot of electrical items are run through the truck's ECU, not just simple switches and relays. If you know what you're doing and install everything correctly, you shouldn't have an issue with warranty. If you say, forget to disconnect the battery or make a bad connection and something fries, you will very quickly be denied warranty coverage. If you're aware of the Magnuson-Moss Act, then you know a manufacturer can not void your warranty because of aftermarket parts, they'd have to prove that the aftermarket part caused a failure. With suspension, say you add a lift and now your radio dies, it's easy for you to argue that your suspension work did not hurt the radio or cause it to die. If you short something out or your ECU takes a dump on you, it's much harder to prove that it wasn't your doing. All that being said, I had no second thoughts about wiring in some extra goodies on my truck while it was still under warranty. I just made sure I knew what I was messing with, disconnected the battery every time and everything worked out fine. If you're uncomfortable doing electrical work, I wouldn't risk it.

 

Yea I'll probably read up on how all this stuff works before doing anything then. I am very handy and very good at following directions and being self-taught, so I feel comfortable being able to follow directions on the more simple how-to's that people have posted on this site, but you're right I should probably learn how things work and have a good understanding before even just copying what someone has already shown to work.