Johnson: The Two Smartest Free Things to Give Vehicle Maintenance Customers

Preventative maintenance of light-duty cars and trucks is a safety issue. It impacts every driver’s physical, financial, emotional, and environmental safety—as well as all the drivers on the road with them. 

Have you ever been stuck in traffic behind an improperly maintained car? Thick, sometimes blue-black exhaust destroys air quality. The acrid smell of oil leaking onto hot engine parts is a red flag that somebody’s car will stall soon, and it makes surrounding drivers anxious that it could be theirs (after all, malfunction indicator lights fail far too often these days.) 

Oil dripping through old seals and oil pan cracks also lands on the pavement where it will get washed into the storm sewer system or nearby fields and rivers. The dirty rearview mirror with a frayed windshield wiper guarantees the driver in front of you will have a hard time noticing anything going on behind them. Their non-functioning brake lights make every move forward in stop-and-go conditions a heightened risk because you get no warning that the car is stopping. 

Overall, lack of vehicle maintenance makes driving stressful and dangerous for everyone, and that’s only a tiny sample of what can go wrong described above. Failure to obtain timely preventive maintenance leads to more than breakdowns, accidents, stress, and pollution—it voids warranty coverage. In fact, automakers have been known to void warranty coverage over lack of required maintenance even when the engine has a related recall. 

To preserve warranty coverage and promote the maximum function and lifetime use of a vehicle’s engine, there is no such thing as too much recommended preventative maintenance. The problem is always too little, yet some automakers and occasionally state regulators create public campaigns touting extended maintenance intervals, especially for oil changes.  

This can place aftermarket automotive service providers at odds with their customers, most of whom can’t readily see the holes in low-maintenance propaganda because they no longer read owners’ manuals or take auto shop class in school. 

Meanwhile, informed drivers get more preventative maintenance because they know it’s required, makes them safer, and is far less expensive than losing warranty coverage. The challenge is helping more drivers get informed as to how their cars and their respective automakers’ repair, recall, and warranty systems work.  

And, again, that can be tricky when an automaker emphasizes one thing to sell a car but requires something else in the owner’s manual fine print. It can also be tricky when an engine symptom experienced by a consumer is related to either a known defect or a non-recalled malfunction identified by the automaker in a Technical Service Bulletin, but an aftermarket service provider was the last technician to service the engine. Luckily, two excellent tools exist to promote consumer enlightenment, and they’re both free. 

The Center for Auto Safety produces the podcast There Auto Be A Law, which discusses the latest automotive technology used in passenger vehicles, everything going wrong with the various types of engines and whether automakers are acknowledging it, and the importance of maintenance.  

The three hosts also happen to be friendly and entertaining in addition to being experts in law and engineering. They also advocate for Right to Repair and cover issues specifically critical to both the automotive aftermarket and consumers, such as their episodes entitled: 

• Never Crack the Paint (Hyundai/Kia painted oil drain pan assembly problems)  
• Is it a Car or a Computer on Wheels? 
• Right to Repair or Pleasure to be Charged 
• Almost Everything you ever Wanted to Know about EV Batteries 

NHTSA’s SaferCar app provides free access to official government and OEM documents covering vehicle defects, consumer complaints, investigations, and Technical Service Bulletins.

For instance, the driver of a 2015 Ford F-150 discovers oil on the driveway. The instrument panel shows no malfunction indicator lights illuminated, but the driver had the oil changed two weeks ago so he brings the truck back there. After rechecking the engine and associated service records, the aftermarket service facility can’t find anything associated with the prior service causing a leak. 

It would be far more educational (and supportive of the customer/service provider relationship) for the driver to receive the link for NHTSA’s SaferCar app. With that tool he can see for himself that Ford has published TSB 24-2098, 2.7L EcoBoost–Oil Pan Leaking, Original Replacement Pan Not Available (March 28, 2024), which explains that, “some 2015-2017 F-150 equipped with the 2.7L EcoBoost engine may exhibit an oil leak from the oil pan RTV seal. This may be due to various concerns with the oil pan. To correct the condition, follow the Service Procedure to replace the oil pan with the later style oil pan.”  

The driver would also find many consumer complaints discussing the same fact pattern and the automaker’s response to it, including the aforementioned TSB. The situation shifts from confused driver versus service provider to educated driver on the right road to get what he needs. More information, like more preventative maintenance, is the safest way to go.