Refund Deadlines Have Passed in 23 of 56 Active Carmaker Warranty Extensions

Key findings

The refund deadline has passed in 23 of 56 active programs

A warranty extension can still cover your car after its refund offer has closed. The free repair runs for years, but the offer to repay an owner who paid before the program began can have its own, earlier date.

Ford's 14M02 bulletin is one example. It offers the refund "if the repair was performed before the date of the Owner Notification Letter." In 11 programs, Ford also repays emergency repairs done away from a dealer, and some of these print no expiration date.

GM's dates are not always the final word. Its documents add "unless state law specifies a longer reimbursement period", so a GM owner can ask whether their state allows longer.

Active programs with the refund deadline passed: 23 of 56. Ford's 24N07 program for the Focus is one: "This refund offer expires January 31, 2026."

One printed refund deadline is still open until the end of November 2026

GM special coverage N252508360 for the 2022 Malibu still takes refund claims. Each claim "must be presented to your dealer or received by the Reimbursement Department by November 30, 2026."

If you own this car and already paid for the covered repair, send the claim before the deadline.

Most programs are still running

Programs still active by their terms: 56 of 90. A printed end date has passed for 9 more.

For another 24, no end date is printed, and the term counted from the newest model year has likely run out. Coverage there runs per car, so check your own car's in-service date with a dealer.

Carmakers repay past repairs in most programs

Most programs offer to repay owners who already paid for the covered repair. That's 69 of 90, or 77%, and 44 of them are still active.

Programs whose document says refunds are not approved: 3, all from Ford. The rest don't mention a refund, which only means the document on file doesn't say.

Most programs have a time limit of 10 years or more

Most extensions have a time limit of 10 years or more, though mileage can end coverage sooner. Terms are 15 years in 19 programs and 10 years in 38, mostly counted from when the car first went into service. Hyundai's Theta II program gives the engine long block a limited lifetime warranty, and Chrysler's X53 covers its repair for life.

Mileage limits still end coverage per car, often at 120,000 or 150,000 miles, and some programs have no mileage cap. A program can be active while a high-mileage car has already aged out of it.

Engines lead the list of covered parts

Engine parts lead by a wide margin. Head gaskets, oil use and camshaft parts are among the 35 engine programs. Transmissions and CVTs follow with 16, then fuel systems with 14.

Owners get a letter in most programs

Owner letters are the norm at GM, Ford, Honda, Toyota and Subaru. Of their programs, 62 of 63 say owners get a letter or notice.

Across all programs, that's 77. A used-car buyer who bought after the mailing may not have seen the letter, which is why a VIN check matters.

What to do if your car might be covered

What this data can't tell you

• "Not stated" is not "no". It means the document on file doesn't say.
• Some rows rest on a dealer bulletin alone, with no owner letter on file. That shows which document NHTSA holds, not how a carmaker treats owners.
• Status comes from the model year and the program term, assuming each car went into service by the end of the following year. Mileage limits end coverage earlier for some cars.
• A planned owner letter doesn't prove every owner got one, and no document measures that.

How this was counted

• We started from the 131 coverage programs our guides cite and kept the true warranty extensions for US cars and trucks, 90 in all. That's the set we reviewed, not every US warranty extension.
• Each program is read from its own carmaker's document on NHTSA's manufacturer-communications site.
• Recalls, software updates and service updates are out, and so are programs with no document on file.
• A program counts as repaying past repairs only where its document offers owners a refund. Wording about dealer claims doesn't count.
• A refund deadline is the latest printed date in the program's documents. Later supplements were checked for the active programs past their date, and none reopened a window.
• One program has no status, because its own document names no models.
• Status is measured as of November 7, 2026.

For journalists and data users

Our text, tables and data are free to quote and republish. Quoted carmaker wording stays theirs. Credit Oil & Miles and link to this page.

Sources

1. NHTSA, manufacturer communications (technical service bulletins and special coverage notices), static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs, the program documents listed per row in the download, read November 7, 2026.
2. Ford, 14M02 Supplement 7 (owner refunds) and 24N07 (refund offer expires January 31, 2026).
3. GM, special coverage N252508360 (refund claims by November 30, 2026).