I'm not sure how the warranty works on these units, however if the Pioneer reps are stating that the units are defective, couldn't you just start the RMA (Return Merchandise Authorization) process with the rep your on the phone with?
Basically they would send you out a "non-defective" unit and you would send your "defective" unit back. Then low and behold when you install it, 25 seconds later you'll encounter the same issues, and you call them up again, and say, here is my RMA number and its doing the same thing.
Just my .02....