Is your new-car warranty good at the race track?

[VoodooBoss]

Here's an article from AutoBlog. I can verify that our warranties are good on track and when I blew the motor in my Boss 302 it was completely stock. Keep that in mind as you consider modifications to your drive train.

So what has your experience been with the Ford warranty when driving your Mustang on a race track and something broke?

http://www.autoblog.com/2017/02/27/new-car-warranty-valid-race-track/

 

[byronj]

Thats goood to know. Thanks for posting

 

[captdistraction]

I broke a few things on my car that weren't modified, but track use was cited during warranty stuff (first clutch failure and trans issues). As the car became more modified and I broke more things, the conversation became moot (especially after lunching a motor at Spring Mountain that had a tune on it).

 

[302 Hi Pro]

interesting OP.

In the case of the Boss 302, Ford Motor Company advertised the new Boss 302 as a track day ready car and told us how to make our cars track day ready in the Boss 302 supplemental owners manual. In 2011 I first noticed the return of the Boss 302 from a documentary Ford produced to promote the car with its history and reintro-development on the Speed Channel. This documentary later became a part of the Boss 302 Owners Kit.

The key here was, (IIRC), no timed or professional racing, as mentioned in the above manual. But a few engines were lost and some cars were towed from the race track directly to the Ford Dealer and Ford picked up the warranty tab for replacement engines.

In some cases, the Dealership would deny coverage because "Customer States" Engine noise started on T2 at race track! Then warranty coverage was reinstated after the owner called Ford Customer Service as the vehicle was used as intended for a Track Day or a HPDE session. One Member blew their Boss engine bottom end to bits and it was so bad that internal engine debris even punched a hole the trans-case bell housing! Both engine and trans were replaced under warranty after Ford Custoner Service stepped in as the Dealer originally said No Way! IIRC towed from the track, failure occurred during an HPDE session when it blew. Key point, Owner was using vehicle as intended.

I suspect that any Ford vehicle with a Track Package or Track Apps PCM should have warranty coverage if the Owner was using the vehicle as intended. Think about Mustangs with Track-Apps Line Loc. It goes like this: Your Honor, the clutch failed when I used the line lock feature that I found on my vehicles driver controls computer, and my dealer denied warrant coverage! And the car is still under 36/36 warranty period.

The Owner always has the burden of proper maintenance.

Aftermarket mods are the quickest way for a Dealer to deny warranty coverage and Ford published a TSB in 2011 that instructs the Dealerbody to deny warranty coverage when Aftermarket mods are found.

At my particular Ford Dealership, most if not all Ford Racing parts, (when properly installed), did not affect my warranty coverage. Interesting sidebar: My Dealership replaced my complete clutch assembly under warranty and R&R'ed my MGW Ltd shifter in the process.

If you ever have warranty coverage problems, your first question should be "What is the cause of failure?" The actual cause of failure v. Aaahhh, the engine has a spun bearing. Always ask why, what caused that, etc.?

302 Hi Pro

 

[k98dave]

The key words are, and always has has been, "Timed Event" So if your just doing say a HPDE its no different than driving to work, if you bring you car in with track stickers and numbers etc. Good luck as you will most likely have an issue.

 

[blacksheep-1]

FWIW that includes autocrossing..an incident happened recently where some loon lost control at an autocross event and ran into several cars in the staging area. Problem was..the cars were entered in an "event" so even though they weren't competing, their insurance did not cover the damage.
Just saying...

 

[TMSBOSS]

Auto Cross is a timed event. Most insurance companies do not cover timed events. HPDE is another story.
Being hit while parked or waiting is something I would have to discuss with the insurance company. My USAA policy specified that my car was covered while at an event just not covered while driving.
Regardless, unless you have a good understanding of what your insurance will cover, consider trackday insurance. Pricey when you look at the cost for a days coverage but may be valuable to some.

 

[ITLRUN]

I can vouch for Ford warranty covering an incident on track. Plus, my car had full exhaust, CAI and a tune (among other mods). The issue was traced back to fault that was not related to my mods. Ford ended up buying the car back and gave me an allocation to repurchase another car. I was basically silent online regarding the situation until I had everything worked out with FoMoCo. They took extremely good care of me.

 

[yotah1]

Not as bad as the fireball just before, but the aircon belt went bad on my GT350 on my first trackday with it, 900 miles on the car. The dealership confirmed over the phone on a sunday afternoon to cut the belt, keep it with me, continue my day as planned, and bring the car to them on Monday. They changed it, checked everything else on the car for a couple of days, sorted a couple other things (water thermostat gone bad too) and gave me my car back without asking any questions or anything 3 days later.

 

[barspen]

Never had an issue getting repairs while under warrantee, even with very obvious track mods. Had the driveshaft (cracked boot), front A-Arms (damaged bushings) and several batteries (typical in Phoenix) replaced in 6 years. Unfortunately my clutch Throw Out Bearing exploded 50 miles after my warrantee ended, so that was not covered. Otherwise, the dealership treated it like any other repair, which they should in almost every case.