I want to get a CAI for my Altima, but the last thing I want to do is void my warranty. I've looked through the paperwork and it doesn't say anything about "Ways to Void Your Warranty". Anyone have insight?

 

Well Seeing as how its an Altima... Id say.. Look into Nismo.. When I had my Sentra SER.. most nismo parts wouldnt void the warranty... only down fall was they had to be bought and installed at a nissan dealership.. at least thats what I was told... So Id start by calling your local Nissan Dealership and see what they have to say about it.

 

From my understanding, "doing any work or changes to the motor or vehicle".

I've heard of some people putting CAIs on and still having their warranty though. Think it depends on who you got it from(the car).

Anything we've had personally and put an intake or such on, deff voided our warrantys.


edit: ^^^ yeah nismo stuff would make sense, just check into it, I'm used to fords and such.

 

Technically speaking, any modification will void your warranty. Basically if anything goes wrong with your car and the dealership denies you warranty coverage, if you take them to court they will do whatever they can to trace the issue back to your aftermarket item. A cold air intake, even if it is a nismo one, if it is installed by you, still technically voids your warranty. If you get a nismo intake and it is installed by the dealer (who WILL charge you way too much) then your warranty will still be intact, since it was installed by Nissan technicians. However, people sometimes do get around such problems by replacing their stock intake when they go in for warrnty service. Just be really really careful.

 

It just occurred to me that warranty=no mods. No CAI, no exhaust, etc.

Sucks!

If there's a chance they will try to trace something back to an aftermarket part, then screw it. I'd rather have big repairs taken care of then have my car sound better.

 

Well technically under the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act you can modify your car all you want as long as the modifications are legal, which a cold air intake would be, and the dealership cannot deny you coverage. But as Truth said about denying coverage, they will do everything they can to blame it on the modification and deny you coverage, but they technically can't unless that part caused the problem. So having your radio all the sudden never work they can't be like yeah that cold air intake of yours makes your warrenty void and is what caused your radio to crap out. They have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the modification caused the problem to deny coverage.

 

I replaced my WRX battery with an Optima red top a few years ago. I had a ground cable corrosion problem on the engine block end, and went in for warranty replacement (free is good). The head of service tells me I voided my electrical system warranty. I talked to the dealership manager and told him what I do for a living. After they knew they couldn't bullshit me, it was all covered after that.

Anyway, if you're so worried about a CAI, there are two things you can do. Either don't install a CAI, or swap out the CAI for the stock intake if you need to go in for warranty repair.

 

+1... but-
in the case of a CAI, if you hydrolock the motor, you're screwed. don't expect THAT to be covered. i can't think of any other circumstance that you'd really need to worry as long as you take it in with all the stock stuff hooked up. just ask 03/04 Cobra guys. it's pretty easy to change pulleys and reflash the computer back to stock. you could be putting down 600+ hp on a car that comes from the factory putting down 380 to the ground, and with a little bit of work, still be covered. is it legal.... well, that's another story. i wouldn't get caught. the word FRAUD comes to mind....

 

Any modification to the a vehicle will void a warranty (except things like the roush supercharger on stangs), but if you need to take it in, all you have to do is throw the old box back in and then take it to them.

there is also the replacement filter option, instead of getting a full CAI, just get a K&N filter or similar and throw it in, that wont void the warranty and will still give you increased airflow.