Why do many manufacturers prefer you don't work on your own regulators?

[WB2GLP]

Same reason Toyota, Chevy etc etc wants you to bring your car back to their dealership for routine maintenance I guess. If you don't, your warranty is void.

Untrue. Read about the Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act.

 

[gtstricky]

Why don't you tell us a bit more about yourself so we might better understand the sources of your information. For example, the name of the DS you refer to in a previous post and how you happened to be there.

DS= Dutch Springs. It was the dive location referred to in that post.
I have worked in liability and insurance exposures for over 20 years.

 

[diversteve]

I thought it was so shops had two chances to sell you something else while your regs are serviced.

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

I thought it was so shops had two chances to sell you something else while your regs are serviced.

That is it in a nutshell. If they can get you to walk in the door, they have a chance of selling you something shiny and new. And it often works!

There is nothing at all wrong with that, if only they'd sell me parts when I walk in....

I'd still be walking through the door!! I'd still have to restrain myself from buying something I didn't need!! The smell of neoprene and the the hiss of compressed air from the back of a dive shop have a subliminal effect on me.

I'm very weak... the LDS would make a BUNCH more money off of me if the sold me parts.

I really do not see the liability issue. That is smoke and mirrors. If it were a REAL issue, every auto parts store in the country would have been sued into oblivion long ago.

Best wishes.

 

[redacted]

DS= Dutch Springs. It was the dive location referred to in that post.
I have worked in liability and insurance exposures for over 20 years.

Thank you.

Can you find a sample of cases where a scuba manufacturer, dealer, or anyone other than the user was found to be liable as a result of a regulator (or other gear) failure?

 

[sea_ledford]

Half of the newly repaired/serviced gear I see on my charter boat fails first dive. That's right, half. Some have tried it in the pool, but most just come on the boat and test it at 80 feet. I don't understand why a dive shop wants to have a lock on servicing gear. Any other theories?

I have also noticed that just about every time a reg has any problems the first thing out of a divers mouth is "But I just had it serviced!"

Are you mostly seeing bad adjustments leading to slight free flows, or is it something more substantial than that? Most of the ones I saw were free flows, and if I knew at the time how to adjust them and had the handy little tool, I could have killed in tips on some days! I figure most of those were caused by technicians that had poor high frequency hearing ('cause they're old) and refused to (or were too lazy to) do bubble checks. Or they didn't cycle the reg enough to break in the seat.

According to Scubapro I'm the most dangerous type of reg technician, because I only do about 10-15/ year. But when I sent out my last batch of regs to an approved technician they all came back with regs on the wrong hoses, out of adjustment, etc. And he still charged me for the parts kits that I provided. Not happy. But since I have a program to be responsible for rather than just myself, I guess I'll keep sending them out and fixing them when they get back. For liability reasons.

 

[cerich]

Tinfoil Much? The class is a TDI approved specialty and in fact the shop has even more liability coverage.

I guess you work at a diveshop....one that really dislikes the new age of information

It has everything to do with liability. They don't care if you work on it yourself as long as they said "only authorized repair...." and as long as the parts did not come from them. THey don't care if you go on ebay and buy them they just can not be seen as supplying or promoting self repair.

It is the same reason the ladder you buy has a great big sticker that says "do not stand on top step".

HOG makes it very clear that they do not teach repair or sell parts to end users. They push all the liability to the dealers. As soon as a dealer loses its shop because of a lawsuit this will close down.

---------- Post added June 17th, 2014 at 03:08 PM ----------

I have also noticed that just about every time a reg has any problems the first thing out of a divers mouth is "But I just had it serviced!"

Are you mostly seeing bad adjustments leading to slight free flows, or is it something more substantial than that? Most of the ones I saw were free flows, and if I knew at the time how to adjust them and had the handy little tool, I could have killed in tips on some days! I figure most of those were caused by technicians that had poor high frequency hearing ('cause they're old) and refused to (or were too lazy to) do bubble checks. Or they didn't cycle the reg enough to break in the seat.

According to Scubapro I'm the most dangerous type of reg technician, because I only do about 10-15/ year. But when I sent out my last batch of regs to an approved technician they all came back with regs on the wrong hoses, out of adjustment, etc. And he still charged me for the parts kits that I provided. Not happy. But since I have a program to be responsible for rather than just myself, I guess I'll keep sending them out and fixing them when they get back. For liability reasons.

my experience when working in the Caymans as well, 99% of the time it was a slight freeflow, a 30 second adjustment, the other were normally pretty spectacular failures.... but "it was just serviced' was almost always the first thing said by the diver

 

[Hank49]

Untrue. Read about the Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act.

Thanks. I hadn't read that before. However that's a US law. I live in Belize and was basing my statement on what the Toyota dealer tells us. In fact, I just called them and confirmed what I said. If we don't bring it in at certain km traveled, our warranty is void.

 

[gtstricky]

Thank you.

Can you find a sample of cases where a scuba manufacturer, dealer, or anyone other than the user was found to be liable as a result of a regulator (or other gear) failure?

Yes. Why?
$5 million awarded to elderly parents when scuba diver dies due to defective equipment. Los Angeles County. - Jury Verdict Alert

 

[cerich]

Not really relevant, that was a clearly defective item that si tec had sold. Not the same as what you are claiming regarding servicing.