[Emily9430]

I bought a t-roc 1 litre se directly from VW at the end of August 2018 (8/9 weeks ago) and the car now has 700 miles on the clock (I don't drive a lot).

I was driving slowly in traffic when I noticed smoke and a bad smell coming from the car bonnet. The AA drove the car straight back to the VW garage that I purchased from and on inspection they have come back to me and said that the clutch has burnt due to 'driver error' and therefore I am not covered by my warranty.

I have never had an issue with a clutch going before on my last car which was 10 years old with 70,000 miles on the clock and so I am struggling to understand how they can put this down the an error on my part!

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Thank you

 

[Swsgm30]

Surely VW need to justify their opinion that it is driver error ... Did the AA guy have the same experience re smoke and smell while they were driving? With such a low mileage I don't see how VW can back up their diagnosis.

 

[Hawkeye]

The only ways a clutch could burn out in that sort of mileage (in my opinion) are:
- you are riding the clutch
- you are slipping the clutch a lot upon pulling away / changing gear

Given what you say about your previous car, then that sounds unlikely. In which case, something must have been wrong with the clutch mechanism, whereby the clutch was not releasing properly. Perhaps the clutch release bearing or mechanism is faulty.

Assuming the clutch mechanism, this will be a hard one to prove, as from my previous experience of dealing with VAG customer service (having owned 3 Audi's to date), they expect YOU to prove any "manufacturing defects".

It would be interesting to know what inspection the dealership have done - have they stripped the car down and examined the parts? If not then they are assuming that it is you that has burnt the clutch - but they have no evidence to back it up.

Given you are a member of the AA, I would ring them and ask their advice as to your next steps.

Interesting though - have you seen this article on the forum https://www.trocforums.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=560
Sounds very similar to your issue to me.

 

[vangelis]

Hi Emily!

I can understand you fully!
It happened to me with only 309km on the clock.
I describe it all here, as Hawkeye points out.
https://www.trocforums.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=560&hilit=clutch+309

At the beginning they blamed me, but in the end after a lot of complaints, they offered to give me a brand new car!
The only problem is now that the waiting list is longer...5 months!
Do not give up, insist and claim for a brand new car.
Show them also my case
All the best
Vangelis

 

[Mackemsteve]

You're not the first - I've read of a few such incidents.

 

[vangelis]

Hi Steve,
Can you post some links from such related incidents?

 

[Mackemsteve]

It would require some digging. There's been some on here, some on other VAG forums eg Seats).

 

[Mackemsteve]

https://www.trocforums.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=439&p=2211&hilit=clutch#p2211
https://www.trocforums.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=560&p=4105&hilit=clutch#p4105
https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/volkswagen/t-roc-2018/good/

 

[Emily9430]

Thanks for the reply guys,

Vangelis, how did you go about lodging complaints ect, right now I am just dealing with my local branch of VW but I would think it would need to go higher up?

Also now that they have taken ownership, has this entitled you to a curtesy car? Having had the car for 2 months I don't have an alternative!

 

[Negativepitch]

As Kackemsteve says , there a quite a few reports of 1.0 atecas including one guy who went to court and won.
This is just a google link but it lists the various links to them if you look down the page.
If the google link does not come up with anything just stick in ateca clutch problems.
I hope my 1.0 is ok......when it arrives other wise they say things always one in threes and I have already rejected two Tiguans 😅
https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&channel=iphone_bm&source=hp&ei=eRfSW9TkMsfSwQKxg5OIDg&ins=false&q=seat+ateca+clutch+problems&oq=ateca+clutch+pr&gs_l=mobile-gws-wiz-hp.1.0.0i22i30j33i160.4357.22132..23578...0.0..1.3208.8975.1j3j3j8-1j2......0....1.......3..0j41j46j0i131j46i131.yeyyjCZ_HkE

 

[vangelis]

Hi Emily
Sorry for the late reply.

First of all I live in Greece. I signed up in this forum when the problem occurred with my TROC
because it looked to me as the best forum for this car and I wanted to see if I was not the only one.

Now, when the problem occurred the local dealer blamed it to me, bad usage etc.
They did however offer me a courtesy car.
I however could not accept the blame (309km only) and I went there to see for myself, I took pictures
I complained to them, I told them that I could contact VW Germany and every car magazine in the country.

I did contact VW Germany by email, I think it was [email protected]
or something like that.
They did reply to me that I should contact my country's VW importer.
To cut a long story short, it took almost 2 months (with a courtesy car) to be offered a new car from Greece's VW importer.
This however will now take 5 month wait list (not 3.5 when I got it in summer).
They never confirmed that there was a problem with the car, but they offered a completely new replacement.

You need to insist and you need to contact UK's VW importer and VW Germany as well.
I am sure they all know about the problem.

Good luck!

 

[vangelis]

Thanks Steve and negativepitch for the links!

 

[Negativepitch]

How have you got on with your car Emily ?
Any updates.

 

[RichardCostain]

Picked car up 1/3/18 brand new from Warrington VW. Clutch started making a bad noise on 16/11/18 and was recovered by VW Roadside Assistance and taken to Liverpool VW (as Warrington didn't have any courtesy vehicles). Call from Liverpool VW dealership today stating that not covered under warranty as "user error" and that I'd been riding the clutch. Quoted a price of £1800+, but could discount to £1500+, and that as it was user error the hire car would become chargeable to me at 17:00hrs today.
Advised them that never had any issues with clutch in previous manual car owned for 3 years (Clio), but not interested. I phoned VW Customer Care who agreed to speak to the dealership in Liverpool as I was on my way in to see them. Service Manager was very understanding and it was agreed that I would pay a £400 contribution on my insistence that this was not an acceptance of liability to "user error" (I need the car for work so needed repair ASAP), with VW/Dealership picking up the balance of the cost (70/30 split).
Vehicle will be repaired and available for collection from mid-day 20/11. Service Manager explained that VW will not budge on the "user-error" diagnostic, as they don't actually sell the car (it's the dealership/franchise), and it would be difficult to reclaim the monies that I've agreed to pay ... we shall see.

 

[vangelis]

I cannot believe it!
This is the third incident reported in this forum!
https://www.trocforums.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=560

 

[Ian91]

Picked car up 1/3/18 brand new from Warrington VW. Clutch started making a bad noise on 16/11/18 and was recovered by VW Roadside Assistance and taken to Liverpool VW (as Warrington didn't have any courtesy vehicles). Call from Liverpool VW dealership today stating that not covered under warranty as "user error" and that I'd been riding the clutch. Quoted a price of £1800+, but could discount to £1500+, and that as it was user error the hire car would become chargeable to me at 17:00hrs today.
Advised them that never had any issues with clutch in previous manual car owned for 3 years (Clio), but not interested. I phoned VW Customer Care who agreed to speak to the dealership in Liverpool as I was on my way in to see them. Service Manager was very understanding and it was agreed that I would pay a £400 contribution on my insistence that this was not an acceptance of liability to "user error" (I need the car for work so needed repair ASAP), with VW/Dealership picking up the balance of the cost (70/30 split).
Vehicle will be repaired and available for collection from mid-day 20/11. Service Manager explained that VW will not budge on the "user-error" diagnostic, as they don't actually sell the car (it's the dealership/franchise), and it would be difficult to reclaim the monies that I've agreed to pay ... we shall see.

I had a similar problem with a Vauxhall clutch failing after a low mileage, in the end I took them to court to recover costs (I've sent you a quick message) if you have legal cover on your car insurance this may well be the route to go if you get no where with the Dealer/VW.

 

[Negativepitch]

Picked car up 1/3/18 brand new from Warrington VW. Clutch started making a bad noise on 16/11/18 and was recovered by VW Roadside Assistance and taken to Liverpool VW (as Warrington didn't have any courtesy vehicles). Call from Liverpool VW dealership today stating that not covered under warranty as "user error" and that I'd been riding the clutch. Quoted a price of £1800+, but could discount to £1500+, and that as it was user error the hire car would become chargeable to me at 17:00hrs today.
Advised them that never had any issues with clutch in previous manual car owned for 3 years (Clio), but not interested. I phoned VW Customer Care who agreed to speak to the dealership in Liverpool as I was on my way in to see them. Service Manager was very understanding and it was agreed that I would pay a £400 contribution on my insistence that this was not an acceptance of liability to "user error" (I need the car for work so needed repair ASAP), with VW/Dealership picking up the balance of the cost (70/30 split).
Vehicle will be repaired and available for collection from mid-day 20/11. Service Manager explained that VW will not budge on the "user-error" diagnostic, as they don't actually sell the car (it's the dealership/franchise), and it would be difficult to reclaim the monies that I've agreed to pay ... we shall see.

Hi Rich, what size engine do you have?
I'm a bugger for riding the clutch at traffic lights, always have been (I know don't murder me here) I had my freelander sport for four years and never had a problem and my Toyota Yaris sport for three years, and my wife has now been driving it for three years (she doesn't do it and always tells me off) also my Nissan QQ for three years and I'm also a bugger for pulling of hard at one of our roundabouts and again with no problems. I think I will need to go out with my wife driving more often when we get the car 😁

 

[Newtroconthebloc]

Hi NP
I always took it that riding the clutch was something one does when the car is on the move, it's having your foot resting on the pedal even though you're not pushing to disengage it. Obviously if you're resting your foot quite firmly it can cause the clutch to disengage slightly and slip thus burning the clutch out. If you're keeping your foot down on the clutch when stationary it won't do the release bearing any good but in my view would not affect the plate wear.
If by pulling away quickly you allow the clutch to slip this isnt very good either.
I'm sure others with more knowledge will add to my comments.

 

[brid]

It is difficult to know about the full extent of possible problems regarding the clutch as not all T Roc owners report on this forum.
How many Rocs are in service world wide and what % have had similar problems.
For even one person to have this expense and trauma in a new car is bad enough but to then suffer VW dismissing it as "user related" - what a cop out.
Never had a clutch go on me in many decades of driving including HGV's and if they had said this to me then I would be well miffed.

 

[Dolphinfriendly1012]

I know what I am about to write isn't in relation to a t-roc but clutch related all the same. The other half got a brand new transit van in July, its now on 7000 miles, just recently it has started this strange thing where the clutch appears to be slipping. I hadn't experienced it until the other day but she had been mentioning it for some time, although she hadn't described it that well so I hadn't bothered to look into further. I found it was in 6th going uphill and I noticed the revs going from 1500 to 2000 and back again but it was very quick and no change in road speed, had I not been looking down at the speedo and noticed the rev counter at that point, it continued to do it for about 30 seconds, as I put my foot on the clutch to change down I noticed there was no travel on the clutch pedal and it activated disengaging the clutch straight away, after a couple of changes it returned to normal. I have had one occasion before where there was no travel on the clutch and it engaged straight away. For the last couple of days its been fine. Now I need to speak with the garage but I suspect this is going to be related to either the master or slave cylinder sticking and either not allowing the clutch to fully engage or slowly engage and also remove the free travel in the clutch pedal. As I say I know this isn't a t-roc but its very subtle and if its not allowing the clutch to engage fully it may well be getting a small amount of slip that it appears is not noticeable to the driver all the time. I will let you know what the garage says but food for thought as it may well not be the clutch but the hydraulic system that's operating it causing these issues.