Every stock replacement air filter we sell comes with this sticker, which we
advise consumers to place prominently on their air box. The sticker is to alert
service technicians that they should not throw away your K&N air filter because
it will last for the life of your vehicle. When service technicians see this
sticker it means “STOP SELLING THIS CUSTOMER DISPOSABLE AIR FILTERS OVER AND
OVER.” In our opinion, this is why some dealerships or service providers may attempt to discourage a
consumer from using a K&N air filter or worse blame a vehicle repair on our
lifetime air filter. Most dealerships provide excellent service and fulfill car
warranty obligations without issue, argument or tardiness. The rest of this
discussion is about a minority of dealerships who are either misguided or
misinformed.
We are aware of the “urban myth”
(K&N News Story) created by a few dealerships that a
vehicle's MAF sensor can be contaminated by K&N filter oil. No evidence
has ever been provided to support this “myth” and years of
diagnostic testing by K&N has shown that not only is this allegation not
real, it is not even possible. In our opinion, it is an excuse for a
dealership and/or the vehicle manufacturer to avoid a legitimate warranty repair. In the last 4 years, we have
sold over 10,000,000 lifetime air filters and received only a few
hundred calls from consumers who are having dealership or service
provider challenges. We believe that Dealership's or service provider's real incentive may be to discourage the use
of reusable products so they can sell disposable products over and over.
In order to provide consumers with added comfort that they will not be
placed in a bad position by an improper warranty denial, we offer our
Consumer Protection Pledge.
No dealership or service provider, when contacted, has ever been able to provide us with
evidence to support this “myth,” and in fact, our investigations have
revealed that even authorized dealerships are simply speculating and do not have the
test equipment necessary to know whether the sensor has failed or why.
In the last 7 years, we have had more than 300 actual sensors sent to us
by
consumers with documents showing dealerships claimed our product had caused them to fail.
Microscopic, electronic and chemical testing revealed that none of these sensors were contaminated by K&N oil (K&N
Detailed MAF Sensor Test Results). What is perhaps the single
biggest clue to what is going on is that over 50% of these sensors sent
to us were not broken in the first place for any reason.
Click here for more information on how
this may happen.
The oil treatment on our cotton is very small (usually less than 2
ounces) and is a critical component of our filtration technology. There
is nothing unusual about the use of oil as a tacking agent to improve
air filter efficiency. In fact, certain Ford Motorcraft and Fram
disposable air filters are treated with oil. This makes us wonder if it
is only the oil treatment from reusable lifetime air filters that is
alleged cause a vehicle problem? The idea that oil comes off our filter throughout its life is
truly ridiculous. Just like oil treated disposable air filters, once our oil is properly and evenly absorbed through
the cotton, no oil will come off, even under extreme engine conditions.
We have even conducted a test with an over oiled K&N air filter in which
we flowed 1,000 cubic feet of air per minute for over twelve hours (few
cars or truck could generate even 500 cubic feet of air flow). The use
of an absolute filter confirmed that no oil came off the K&N filter
tested, even in these harsh conditions.
We have tested many MAF sensors claimed to be damaged. We can fully
diagnose their condition and likely cause of failure. For a full
discussion of our MAF sensor test protocol and findings, see
K&N Mass Air Flow Testing Results and
Findings.
Not one of these suspected MAF sensors sent in for laboratory
evaluation was shown to have failed due to contamination from K&N filter
oil.
We are the solution
We are so confident about our testing and the quality of our product
that we offer a Consumer Protection Pledge.
So if you ever get in a bind with a dealership, call us because we are
the solution.
Other Information:
An In-Depth Look at How Mass Air Flow Sensors Work |