Defective Products

Full vs. Limited Warranty

According to the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act (MMWA), all warranties associated with consumer goods selling for greater than $10 are either designated as "full" or "limited" warranties. These titles are meant to quickly inform consumers about the noteworthy terms and conditions of a warranty without having to read the fine print.

A full warranty meets the MMWA's guidelines for comprehensive warranty coverage. In the same way, a limited warranty warns consumers that the coverage does not meet one or more of the MMWA's criteria, and the coverage does not encompass all of what a full warranty does.

It is easy to determine whether you have full or limited coverage. Using the following checklist, if all five of these statements concur with the terms of your warranty, it is a full warranty:

• The length of implied warranties is unlimited.
• The warranty service is available to any owner of the product for the extent of the warranty; the warranty should not be exclusively offered to buyers who purchased the item shortly after it hit the market.
• The warranty service is provided at no cost. This includes expenses associated with product returns, removal, and reinstallation if necessary.
• The consumer is given the option of product replacement or a full refund if the product is unable to be repaired after numerous attempts.
• The consumer is not asked to perform any task as a stipulation for receiving service aside from putting in for a service request. There are some exceptions to this rule, but the manufacturer must be able to give a good reason why anything beyond this is a necessity.

If any of these statements are false, you have a limited warranty.

Manufacturers are not obligated to craft a warranty that is either entirely full or entirely limited. If the aforementioned statements only apply to coverage regarding some parts of the product, or if they only apply to coverage during a specific time of the warranty's timeline, then it is called a multiple warranty.