Since this car is beginning to explode on the market in the States, I figure now would be a great time to post up this thread, seeing as it happens with most cars that have modding potential.
First and foremost, dealers do not like mods. It isn't that they necessarily hurt the cars, but rather it is because they want everyone to stick to their cookie-cutter platform which came from the factory.
With that being said, not all mods immediately void your warranty. Most dealerships, in my experience, will not void your warranty if you have a cold air intake (CAI) or a cat-back exhaust. If they do hassle you over a warranty claim, your best luck is to speak with a manager and they are usually willing to work with you. If that doesn't work out, you can always contact the Ford of North America directly and raise the issue with them. 9 times out of 10 they will overrule whatever your local dealership may have said.
Second of all, there is the matter of tunes, ecu reflashes and piggy-back tunes. These are the devil for your warranty, but all is not bad. With tunes like the Cobb AccessPort, you have the ability to tune the car the way you desire and then, if you want to go back to stock format, you simply select the option to erase the tune. This is extremely handy for people who want to make more power, but don't really want a louder car or the inconvenience of losing their warranty. The most a dealership can see after the Cobb reflash is seeing the date the ECU was touched (often referred to as a shadow code). They can't look at it and see "oh, this guy bought an ecu reflash and has been running the stage 2 map at 27psi (that's a hypothetical situation btw).
With piggyback flashes, it is a little bit more fickle. Some dealerships look at that as a voidable offense and others do not since they generally use most of the same parameters the manufacturer uses. Your best bet would be to remove the entire unit itself, which can sometimes be very time consuming.
Overall, as long as you haven't done any major modifications, most dealerships are ok with it, but if you wanted to be on the safe side, you could always re-install the stock components and then bring your car in (big hassle).
As a side note, something a lot of people do not know is dealerships will often make note of modifications to cars regardless of what they are in for service.
Example: You have a CAI and cat-back exhaust on your car, but you brought the car in to have the tires rotated and an oil change. The dealership will make their own personal notes on your file noting you have modifications.
They do this so should you ever bring the car in and say "well my motor is broken at 17k miles, you guys should cover it" they can then reference their notes and say "well you had modifications on the car that are not from the manufacturer so we think that is what caused the engine to break."
Just a few things to make note of folks. If anyone else can think of something else or any other situations that they have experienced, then feel free to add.
First and foremost, dealers do not like mods. It isn't that they necessarily hurt the cars, but rather it is because they want everyone to stick to their cookie-cutter platform which came from the factory.
With that being said, not all mods immediately void your warranty. Most dealerships, in my experience, will not void your warranty if you have a cold air intake (CAI) or a cat-back exhaust. If they do hassle you over a warranty claim, your best luck is to speak with a manager and they are usually willing to work with you. If that doesn't work out, you can always contact the Ford of North America directly and raise the issue with them. 9 times out of 10 they will overrule whatever your local dealership may have said.
Second of all, there is the matter of tunes, ecu reflashes and piggy-back tunes. These are the devil for your warranty, but all is not bad. With tunes like the Cobb AccessPort, you have the ability to tune the car the way you desire and then, if you want to go back to stock format, you simply select the option to erase the tune. This is extremely handy for people who want to make more power, but don't really want a louder car or the inconvenience of losing their warranty. The most a dealership can see after the Cobb reflash is seeing the date the ECU was touched (often referred to as a shadow code). They can't look at it and see "oh, this guy bought an ecu reflash and has been running the stage 2 map at 27psi (that's a hypothetical situation btw).
With piggyback flashes, it is a little bit more fickle. Some dealerships look at that as a voidable offense and others do not since they generally use most of the same parameters the manufacturer uses. Your best bet would be to remove the entire unit itself, which can sometimes be very time consuming.
Overall, as long as you haven't done any major modifications, most dealerships are ok with it, but if you wanted to be on the safe side, you could always re-install the stock components and then bring your car in (big hassle).
As a side note, something a lot of people do not know is dealerships will often make note of modifications to cars regardless of what they are in for service.
Example: You have a CAI and cat-back exhaust on your car, but you brought the car in to have the tires rotated and an oil change. The dealership will make their own personal notes on your file noting you have modifications.
They do this so should you ever bring the car in and say "well my motor is broken at 17k miles, you guys should cover it" they can then reference their notes and say "well you had modifications on the car that are not from the manufacturer so we think that is what caused the engine to break."
Just a few things to make note of folks. If anyone else can think of something else or any other situations that they have experienced, then feel free to add.
