www.autoexpress.co.uk/hyundai/i20/59625/watchdog-clutch-failure-after-four-months
QUOTE
Cathy Brown, from Helston, Cornwall, certainly didn’t think it was fair that Hyundai wouldn’t cover a fix on her i20 under warranty. The replacement part wasn’t anything so minor as wiper blades – it was the clutch. And the car was only four months old, with 3,500 miles on the clock.
“I’ve driven for over 40 years and never had clutch problems before,” Cathy said. “The one on my previous car lasted 11 years!”
END-QUOTE
If what the owner is saying is true, then Hyundai's response is outrageous, i.e. ". . .suggesting that the clutch failure may have been down to Cathy’s driving style."
It's the same old story - companies trying to wriggle out of their responsibilities. Thank goodness that they are not all like that, and you still get to hear great stories of customer service occasionally.
|
This was in last week's Auto Express - Hyundai were due to inspect the car/affected parts. Auto Express haven't updated the story.
They don't seem to be the only manufacturer who wriggle out of things.
My next door neighbours son has an 11 reg Polo diesel used mainly for town driving (wife is a mobile hairdresser). At it's first service in October (11000 miles - eight months old) the front discs were found to be warped due to overheating. The dealer replaced the discs under warranty. Just had the second service (22000 miles - 16 months old), the new discs were warped due to overheating, and were replaced at a cost of £200. The couple have never had discs replaced on their previous cars, yet both VW and the dealer put the problem down to driver error. The couple are now expecting to have the discs replaced at every service.
|
...put the problem down to driver error...
I read somewhere resting your foot on the brakes when they've just been used can cause the disc to warp.
Your neighbour's son ought to have been advised of this, but you could do your good neighbour bit and check he has.
|
A big IF on whether the owner rides the clutch for dear life.
Ive seen a rather elderly gentleman do a clutch in a few months. After the 3rd replacement his kids persuaded him to stop driving. Maybe she doesnt have kids.
|
I read somewhere resting your foot on the brakes when they've just been used can cause the disc to warp.
And I read here that that's a myth. My car comes with a feature that encourages me to do exactly that. I use it, so presumably did the previous owner, and after 42,000 miles the discs are still flat enough to spin LPs on. I might just believe it possible at Nürburgring speeds but round town? Myth gets my vote.
|
It took me 4000 miles to wreck a clutch on a Renault 5 driving like an utter knob.
And I mean wheelspinning everywhere.
That was only last week too...
**Edit** - and that R5 was over 10yrs old/70k miles on it's original clutch before I killed it.
Last edited by: Lygonos on Thu 9 Aug 12 at 19:46
|
I have had one clutch failure in 2000 years of driving.
A Rover 800 management car - I was its second user - after 3 months and 7,000miles - started it up in the garage and let out the clutch - to discover the clutch centre plate had broken away. No drive.
(It was a rubbish car.. electric window switches, head gasket and more switches.. no wonder Rover went bust)
Last edited by: madf on Thu 9 Aug 12 at 19:55
|
>>I have had one clutch failure in 2000 years of driving<<
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bimkn3y3uBY
|
One reviewer has had a clutch problem - it is the same person who has also posted on the Hyundai Owners Club forum, and is the subject of the Auto Express article.
Which? hasn't found an issue with i20 clutches, and earlier this year named the i20 as the best value supermini.
|
"it is the same person who has also posted on the Hyundai Owners Club forum, and is the subject of the Auto Express article."
Yes.
I note that she (Mrs Brown) says in her review on HJ that the car was purchased in March 2011.
According to Autoexpress, the clutch failed after 4 months, i.e. about July 2011.
HJ's CBCB note about clutch failures being unusually common dates back to August 2011 - though I would assume that he had received reports from at least two sources before posting such a comment.
Someone else posted about a clutch failure on the Hyundai Owners Club forum in May 2012, and Mrs Brown responded a few days later that the same thing happened to her.
Mrs Brown posted her review on HJ in June 2012.
It looks to me like she has been trying to get satisfaction for over a year now.
"Which? hasn't found an issue with i20 clutches"
I'm not surprised. The proportion of i20 owners who are Which? subscribers would be pretty low. If, for the sake of argument, 1 in 500 clutches failed within 3 years, I would think that would be an unusually high failure rate. I would be very surprised if 500 i20 owners had responded to Which?'s survey. In other words, one would need a very large sample size to pick up the problem, and Which? probably didn't have a high sample size. HJ, on the other hand, would tend to attract unhappy customers.
|
>> "Which? hasn't found an issue with i20 clutches"
>>
>> I'm not surprised. The proportion of i20 owners who are Which? subscribers would be pretty
>> low. If, for the sake of argument, 1 in 500 clutches failed within 3 years,
>> I would think that would be an unusually high failure rate. I would be very
>> surprised if 500 i20 owners had responded to Which?'s survey. In other words, one would
>> need a very large sample size to pick up the problem, and Which? probably didn't
>> have a high sample size. HJ, on the other hand, would tend to attract unhappy
>> customers.>>
The Which? Hyundai i20 sample size was 145.
|
>> The Which? Hyundai i20 sample size was 145.
Thanks, Duncan.
|
I've done a clutch in 15 000 miles. But there were 3 seasons racing starts where I sidesteped the pedal at about 4000 rpm. And the engine gave 50% more power than standard. And the clutch was nothing special.
Quite possible the Hyundai had a duff unit, but unless the matter came down to the facing material, I'd have thought even I could tell the truth from inspecting the bits. Only other thing I can think of is the clutch essentially being pushed all the time, ie defective hydraulics etc.
Hyundai should have said, "that's very odd, wearing parts aren't covered by the warranty but we'll look at the bits and get back to you." Perhaps they did, but that's not a good story, I'd not expect any manufacturer to roll over on this one, but they should have said if the clutch was defective, they'd pay.
|
|
I've done in a clutch in about 15 yards, trying to haul nicoles old toyota out of a ditch.
|
|
I seem to recall issues with the old Getz having some duff clutches and also (maybe from HJ days) early i20s.
|
>> I seem to recall issues with the old Getz having some duff clutches and also
>> (maybe from HJ days) early i20s.
>>
There were certainly some issues with the i10, though this was more to do with the operation being snatchy than actual clutch failure. Hyundai did, however, replace some, and although mine hasn't been affected it's a common gripe amongst owners that the clutch take-up needs a bit of getting used to if stalling is to be avoided.
Has to be said though that this and the common fault with headlamp adjusters (which needed a re-designed part but is hardly life-threatening) are pretty much the only gripes on the car.
I would suggest that Hyundai suffer a bit like Toyota in this respect; their products are generally so reliable that when a persistent fault does crop up, it comes as a surprise to them and their customers. Fortunately for Hyundai they haven't bragged as much as Toyota about their perceived faultlessness, so they've got away with it.
|
|
I know you like a bargain but wouldn't you have been better to buy her an old Toyota if she wanted one?
Last edited by: Humph D'Bout on Thu 9 Aug 12 at 22:38
|
I witnessed an old woman having to pay for a clutch replacement on an I30 at a Hyundai dealer and car was only 18 months old. I could not believe that she had to pay when these cars are advertised with 5 year warranties.
I then witnessed her getting her car out the dealer car park and then fully understood why she was made to pay!!!!
A certain level of driver should only drive automatics!!!!
|
>> “I’ve driven for over 40 years and never had clutch problems before,” Cathy said. “The
>> one on my previous car lasted 11 years!”
Neither here nor there. I've driven some new Hyundai's (i10s and i20s) and found the clutch to be like an on/off switch. Her previous car would have had a very different clutch feel (most likely) and was also made in another era. From reading around, it seems clutch materials changed around 6-7 years ago, perhaps less/no asbestos?
|
A certain level of driver should only drive automatics.
So you'd advise them to move from a car where a clumsy foot movement stalls the engine or burns the clutch to one where it shoots the car across a crowded car park?
|
"So you'd advise them to move from a car where a clumsy foot movement stalls the engine or burns the clutch to one where it shoots the car across a crowded car park?"
that's why, I've hear it said, you teach them to use both feet in controlling an automatic ;-)
|
>> that's why, I've hear it said, you teach them to use both feet in controlling
>> an automatic ;-)
Refuse to bite, bait your hook better.
|
Hyundai i20 - Useless warranty? - Auristocrat
