How Sony, Microsoft, and Other Gadget Makers Violate Federal Warranty Law (vice.com)

Reader citadrianne shares a Motherboard article: There are big "no trespassing" signs affixed to most of our electronics. If you own a gaming console, laptop, or computer, it's likely you've seen one of these warnings in the form of a sticker placed over a screw or a seam: "Warranty void if removed." In addition, big manufacturers such as Sony, Microsoft, and Apple explicitly note or imply in their official agreements that their year-long manufacturer warranties -- which entitle you to a replacement or repair if your device is defective -- are void if consumers attempt to repair their gadgets or take them to a third party repair professional. What almost no one knows is that these stickers and clauses are illegal under a federal law passed in 1975 called the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act . To be clear, federal law says you can open your electronics without voiding the warranty, regardless of what the language of that warranty says.

Comments

Good luck with that

[chispito]

The manufacturers are not implying your warranty evaporates if you break the seal. It's more that you will never succeed in convincing them that you did not cause the problem at that point.

In a more extreme example, would you want to be a manufacturer and honor a warranty on a (spinning) hard drive with a broken seal?

Re:Good luck with that

[tripleevenfall]

This is a lot like those signs on the back of dump trucks that say "Not responsible for broken windshields".

The sign changes nothing about the law, but it probably works very well to discourage people from trying to recover damages from them.