The owner of the SoFlo GMC Hummer EV believes there’s more to this story than just cosmetic modifications, and it involves a fire
- GM canceled a warranty for a customer with a SoFlo Hummer EV after initial approval.
- Owner provides documents showing GM kept its warranty for a period before voiding it.
- While more details have surfaced, key questions remain unanswered in this unfolding case.
GMC Hummer EV owners aren’t choosing it because it’s the best truck or EV on the market. They’re buying it for the fun factor. But that fun quickly fades when the vehicle doesn’t work properly. That’s where the manufacturer’s warranty is supposed to step in—and for a while, it did, covering Dustan Broom and his SoFlo Customs-modified electric Hummer. But then GM pulled the plug and canceled his warranty altogether.
More: GM Voids Warranty On Custom SoFlo GMC Hummer EV
After our initial coverage, Carscoops obtained documents from the owner showing that GM had actually honored the warranty for some time, even with SoFlo’s modifications. So what changed? Many questions still remain.
A Rough Start with Recurring Issues
Broom picked up his Hummer EV from SoFlo in April of last year. Almost immediately, he had issues with the My Modes settings and with the power tonneau cover. Hoping to sort that out, he took the pickup to the dealer for service. On his first visit in July, employees documented in his paperwork that they ordered new parts to fix his tonneau cover. However, they claimed they couldn’t replicate the issues with My Modes. So Broom waited. And waited.
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Months went by according to Broom and then finally, in December, his MyModes replacement component arrived at the dealer. As part of the job, the service team said they’d need the truck for a few weeks as the high-voltage battery had to come out. When Dustan picked up his truck, “Nothing was fixed,” he tells Carscoops. In fact, he claims the My Modes functionality, which would occasionally work before, has been dead ever since this incident.
A Smoldering Problem
However, even if the suspension modes weren’t working, Broom was also supposed to have his power tonneau cover fixed. That issue wasn’t unique to him either. It was part of a service update “N232434060”, which includes swapping out the power tonneau cover motor as needed. Less than a month after the truck left the shop, things reportedly went from bad to smoky.
Broom reports that on December 5, his cover malfunctioned and made a loud popping sound. After going inside to research how he might remedy the issue, he came back out to find the cover smoking while the GMC sat in his garage. “I flipped out. Called a few dealerships no one was of help, one told me to drive it into the road so I didn’t burn my house down. I was able to unlock the cover, setting the top piece free which, thankfully seemed to stop the burning,” he says.
Less than two months later, Broom returned to the dealership to finally have the tonneau cover repaired under the same service update. Apparently, the necessary parts hadn’t been ordered back in July as originally promised, only after the near-fire incident. Ten days after dropping off the Hummer EV for the repair, Broom got a call that would kick off this entire ordeal.
Warranty Revoked—With No Explanation
According to Broom, the service manager informed him that while his tonneau cover had been fixed, GM had decided to void his entire vehicle warranty due to the modifications done by SoFlo Customs.
More: GM Penalizes Corvette, Hummer, And Escalade V Flippers By Cancelling Warranty
“I was told today GM did NOT perform any technical analysis of the truck, they STILL do not know what the problem is but claim because my truck ‘looks’ the way it does the entire warranty is void and they refuse to fix the service light issues and the My Modes issues, not to mention the lost value of the truck having a 100% voided warranty,” he says.
Documents shared with Carscoops indicate that GM specifically voided the warranty because it blames SoFlo for the My Modes issues. Across several work order items, the dealer writes “NO WORK DONE NEEDS TO GO BACK TO THE SHOP WHERE MODIFICATIONS WERE DONE.” That said, we’ve reached out to SoFlo several times and haven’t received any response. The same is true of General Motors who seemingly approved warranty work and then changed its mind after doing it for some time on this Hummer EV.
What’s Behind the Warranty Cancellation?
It’s possible that GM has a valid reason for the denial, but the lack of transparency makes it difficult to say for sure. Did the modifications contribute to the issue in question, or is GM applying its policy inconsistently? That’s the real debate here.
The Wrinkles Abound
There are two key aspects of this story that still leave lingering questions. First, Broom tells Carscoops that the service manager attributed the warranty cancellation to his bent ride height connecting rods. These aftermarket rods allow for adjustment of the factory ride height but do not alter the core functionality of the air ride system. One online retailer describes them as a simple modification that retains factory performance while enabling slight height adjustments.
Beyond that, Broom has other concerns. He suspects GM may be using the modifications as a convenient excuse to sidestep corporate liability. Specifically, he wonders if the tonneau fire is playing a larger role in this situation than the modifications themselves, with GM leveraging the aftermarket work as justification to deny coverage and avoid potential legal complications. Without responses from either GM or SoFlo, the situation remains murky, leaving only customer testimony and dealer documentation to piece together the puzzle.
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Perhaps the biggest takeaway is that buyers of modified vehicles, especially high-tech EVs, should tread carefully. Factory warranties can be a gray area when aftermarket work is involved, and as this case shows, what’s covered today might not be tomorrow if someone other than an authorized dealer gets their hands on the vehicle.