Warranties… one of the most important and taboo subjects in this industry!!
BoosTech is a FULLY INSURED company and we take responsibility for all ECU coding and risks involved in ECU Coding & Flashing so clients have no stress whatsoever that we would leave them with a damaged ECU or poorly running vehicle.
FACTORY WARRANTY ISSUES
Toyota, Nissan, Isuzu, Mitsubishi and all Asian and Chinese brands have less complex ECU’s than German and European vehicles and because of this no changes of software are detected, they have no tracked or traced CVN(see below) or flash counters as many dealers are independent.
Ford are moving towards online diagnostics and traceability but their ECU’s and consistent updates run on their vehicles means variation in flash counters and CVN is substantial amongst their vehicles, their tooling also cannot read and analyze changes as such no issues are normally accrued.
BMW, Mercedes, Audi and VW… These major European brands are some of the difficult vehicles on the market to get around detection of software changes and detection, that being said, we do have warranty detection patches for many vehicles available which reverse flash counters on ECU’s where applicable and also hide any modification so no flagging is logged on diagnostic tooling at dealerships.
These Euro brands have very intelligent online diagnostic systems that log into a database nationally and world wide to track vehicles based on their VIN number that log all faults and issues with a vehicle, including ECU flash counters and Mileage. Should a vehicle ever have a software changes detected a flag will be put on the vehicle and synced to all other branches that have the online diagnostic systems.
BMW Have arguably the most strict policies and should a flag be found on a vehicle all warranty & service plans are suspended for investigation, the other 3 major brands are far less strict and normally consult with client and find the reasons for flagging of issues, often vehicles are even sold with flags on their system or software that hasn’t been detected yet in which case the new buyer is unaware and should not be held liable.
Their traceability revolves around a system called CVN – Calibration Vehicle Number – In layman’s terms how many calibrations have been loaded onto an ECU or TCU, should this number not correlate to the online diagnostic system flags are produced.
VW & Audi run something for diagnostic purposes called a TD1 Check as CVN numbers may not correlate as not all dealerships can update online systems, the TD1 check does an online comparison of a vehicles original software versions and compares it to what the vehicle is running and if changes are detected then a flag is produced. Mercedes run similar systems.
This means that loading a vehicle back to the factory original software version before warranty claims is sometimes necessary to remove traceability from manufacturers in most cases and as mentioned above BMW are the strictest and one of the only brands that even for services can sometimes scan and detect changes.
Services and normal maintenance on almost all other models has no issues whatsoever.
At BoosTech we are very transparent with risks involved if any and we run through these thoroughly with clients as to not leave them naïve and unaware, should you have any concerns or queries about your vehicle simply contact us via our website Contact form and we will gladly explain processes, risks and an honest recommendation of what’s best for your situation and vehicle.
Smiles for Miles at BoosTech!!
Comments