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Chipping voiding warranty

99swift99

Go Kart Champion
Location
Norcal
Since so many Golf owners talk about chipping their cars how does VW usually treat chipped cars when it comes to warranty issues?
 

MAlby7

Oval Newbie
Location
Toronto, Canada
From what I understand is that whatever part breaks on your car they have to prove that it's a direct result of the prt you modified. If you chip your GTI and your wiper motor burns out then there's no way it can be the chips fault.
 

Mainy

Ready to race!
Location
Scotland
Here in the UK it voids the warranty completely :frown:
 

loft

Ready to race!
Location
Long Island
Yea it definatly will void your warranty, especially with the turbo model. No dealer will wanna give you the slightest bit of leeway with a chipped turbo car. But hey, thats life and we all have to make sacrifices sometimes. The good thing is that there is a law about modding, basicly the dealer can only void the warranty on the part that you've modded. So only your engine warranty would be voided. If your window breaks or something like that, the dealer still has to fix that (some shady dealers have tried to void the entire car warranty alltogether because of a mod).
 

StookMK5

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Austin, Tejas
Well it sounds like there wont be problems if you get a safe chip that doesnt push engine too hard and as long as ure problem isnt with the engine heh.
 
warranty?

Mainy said:
Here in the UK it voids the warranty completely :frown:

The APR chip has multiple modes. I have heard that if you make sure you turn it back to stock mode before you take it to the dealer there is no way they can tell you have it.
OR
is a remap different than chipping.
because i believe most tuners offer a remap which can be hidden from the eyes of a dealer, but if it is a chip it would be visible?:iono:
 

Charis

Ready to race!
Location
NY/NJ
GTi Fanatic said:
The APR chip has multiple modes. I have heard that if you make sure you turn it back to stock mode before you take it to the dealer there is no way they can tell you have it.
OR
is a remap different than chipping.
because i believe most tuners offer a remap which can be hidden from the eyes of a dealer, but if it is a chip it would be visible?:iono:

Ahh clever :wink: How exactly is a Golf "chipped" anyway - is it just a simple flash of the ECU or is the actual ECU chip actually removed+replaced?
 

99swift99

Go Kart Champion
Location
Norcal
Charis said:
Ahh clever :wink: How exactly is a Golf "chipped" anyway - is it just a simple flash of the ECU or is the actual ECU chip actually removed+replaced?

I think it's just an ECU flash right?
 

Charis

Ready to race!
Location
NY/NJ
GTi Fanatic said:
The APR chip has multiple modes. I have heard that if you make sure you turn it back to stock mode before you take it to the dealer there is no way they can tell you have it.
OR
is a remap different than chipping.
because i believe most tuners offer a remap which can be hidden from the eyes of a dealer, but if it is a chip it would be visible?:iono:

GTi Fanatic is right, the APR chip is encrypted so dealers can't flash program the ECU and also makes the chip undetectable to their VAG diagnostic tool. - from APR's site - http://www.goapr.com/VW/products/ecu_upgrade_mkvgti.html

:w00t:
 
Charis said:
GTi Fanatic is right, the APR chip is encrypted so dealers can't flash program the ECU and also makes the chip undetectable to their VAG diagnostic tool. - from APR's site - http://www.goapr.com/VW/products/ecu_upgrade_mkvgti.html

:w00t:

In closing: Chipping your car voids warranty if the dealer can see it.

buy a good chip that can be hidden from the dealer and your warranty is safe.
 
GTi Fanatic said:
In closing: Chipping your car voids warranty if the dealer can see it.

buy a good chip that can be hidden from the dealer and your warranty is safe.

Basically yes, although if you have it re mapped the main dealer may sometimes re boot you ecu on major services or if you have problem.

e.g. I had a problem with my alarm on my Polo TDI and they had to re boot the ecu after fixing the problem to sort it. If it had been re mapped and after re booting my ecu I would loose the re mapping.

Not sure if that works the same on chipping:smile:
 

leakslikasieve

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
ny
apr also has a security mode for anyone who went on the site and didnt see it.. not only is the flash encrytped and not able to been viewed or reflashed, they also offer a 59 mode that makes you enter a 4 digit pen before having the ability to turn on the chipped mode through the cruise stalk.. so all you have to do is turn the chip back to stock mode and put the password in.. if the dealer tries to turn ont he chip there is nothing visual until the 4 digit pass is entered.
 

EK_Turbo

Ready to race!
Location
Tuscon, AZ
leakslikasieve said:
apr also has a security mode for anyone who went on the site and didnt see it.. not only is the flash encrytped and not able to been viewed or reflashed, they also offer a 59 mode that makes you enter a 4 digit pen before having the ability to turn on the chipped mode through the cruise stalk.. so all you have to do is turn the chip back to stock mode and put the password in.. if the dealer tries to turn ont he chip there is nothing visual until the 4 digit pass is entered.

Very cool thanks for the info. APR is a solid tuner and nice to see they've put the thought into dealing with the average modder's concerns :thumbup:
 
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