Limited Powertrain Lifetime Warranty

Funny thing about a "lifetime" warranty is the legal meaning of "lifetime". I don't know if every state has specific laws about this, I would assume they do. Here in CA a lifetime is considered 10 years in the construction industry. If my company were to do any type of construction work on your house (plumbing, electrical, etc) and gave you a lifetime warranty, it would only be 10 years from the date we finished the work. The homeowner would be getting a longer warranty if we were to offer them a 11 year warranty instead of a lifetime warranty.

Consumer products such as a vehicle also have a time limit on "lifetime" warranties. Is it your lifetime? Is it the average expected length of time the vehicle should remain operational? Or is it a specified length of time stated by a certain law?

Lifetime isn't forever. Ask them how long their lifetime warranty mean in years. You'll be surprised.

 

This seems to be a standard offering from all of the SE Toyota dealers. I am curious as well. It would be nice if I can get a new transfer case when mine blows up in 10 and years but I imagine they will weasel out of it. I the fine print I read only says ASE certified mechanic for all required maintenance and lifetime of original owner not transferable. Of course I am sure they won't help me if I bring it to them in 40 years when I am 80.

 

Lifetime of your ownership, lifetime of the vehicle as in 300k?

I purposefully passed on any extended warranty because of additional cost ($2k here to have a 100k warranty) and because I knew I would change a few things on the truck.

Legally, I believe they have to prove your changes caused the problem. For example, you lifted the truck and the CV axles on a 4x4 broke because of improper angle. Tough luck, that's on you. But if all you did was a lift and your head gasket blows, you're covered.

It's a risk/reward game. If it's light modding such as a small lift, you're still mostly covered for the drivetrain, which is the expensive stuff to repair.

 

I believe a few folks have posted technical documentation that showed lifetime around 150K miles or 10 years. A quick googled showed an article by consumer reports: "the average life expectancy of a new vehicle these days is around 8 years or 150,000 miles."