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clutch warranty

11K views 6 replies 5 participants last post by  beppomarx  
#1 ·
ok guys and gals, im about to explain something that just shouldnt be happening; but alas hyundai wins again.

this weekend my friend marty was driving to rochester from syracuse. as he departed an offramp and shifted 2-3, something went wrong. his clutch was locked in place and you could not press the pedal at all, the clutch would not disengage. leaving him somewhat stranded in rochester. so he calls hyundai roadside and they tow it to the nearest dealer.

marty drives a 2000 elantra with about 55k miles on it. the dealer confirmed that the clutch was the culprit, not the slave or master cylinder or anything. then they informed him that this is not covered under warranty because 'the clutch itself is only covered by a 12 month 12,000 mile warranty.' he then called burdick and fuccillo here in syracuse and GOT THE SAME STORY!!! noone would warranty it because apparently the clutch is only warratied for 1 year from the original owner and he is the 2nd owner.

what good is having a 100,000 mile powertrain warranty when you KNOW that in the drivetrain the clutch would be the first thing to go, its only obvious. but only cover that for 12,000 miles??

so anyway we got AAA to tow it back from roc and into his garage free of charge, this morning in about 1hr 45min we got just about everything disconnected albeit the starter and transmission itself. i feel that the problem lies in that the release bearing has somehow come apart from the pressure plate and i do have a spare stock pressure plate and bearing from the 1.8 that we are building so we are just going to swap that one in at no cost.

but this is ludacris. has ANYONE ever heard that the clutch is only covered for 12,000 miles?? HMC is such a scam gone right its not even funny. i, for one will be buying another hyundai in the future but pay no more than $2000 and NOTHING that still would be covered under warranty, because its all hype. like in a year or 2 i may get another late 90's elantra but NEVER AGAIN a brand new or semi-new car that one would EXPECT warrantee to cover because it just doesnt happen. hell i went in because my wipers siezed up and they gave me crap about that AND insulted my car TO MY FACE that ive put literally hundreds of man hours into and has come together how i liek it and how i want it. no sir hyundaiusa is definitely on my sh!t list now. i guess its because of people like me and him who just dont bother to write letters to hyundai that allows them to get away with it but unfortunately i dont feel that our combined $0.04 will amount to even that.

keep in mind that this is a situation where he NEEDS his car, we cant afford for it to sit and wait on legal actions for weeks, this new plate will be installed by tomorrow and sometimes, you just cant wait for legal bullsh!t to go through.

but seeing how his car is completely stock aside from a cone filter/warm air intake is there any legal actions that we could take at all??? any advice is appreciated.
 
#2 ·
Unfortunetly, clutches, just like brake pads are considered to be maintanance or wear items and only covered for the 12 month part of the warranty. I work at a class 8 truck dealership (semi's) and even the clutches there only carry a 12 month warranty. I never figured Hyundai would be any different. Even if your clutch does fail inside the 12/12000 time frame, getting it covered would be very difficult. It is just too easy for the manufacture to claim driver abuse and deny the warranty claim. Therefore dealers are very hesitant about filing clutch claims. So it's not just hyundai that screws the owner, it's all oem's.
 
#4 ·
What you also have to remember is that you are not dealing with Hyundai directly, you are dealing with the dealerships. You should keep the receipts for everything and write Hyundai directly.
I send you via email a copy of the letter tonight that I sent Hyundai after some work at the dealership that wouldn't help me out. Hyundai reimbursed me for half the work.
 
#6 ·
The clutch warranty can be confusing. The friction disc itself is what has the 12mo. 12k miles warranty. The throwout bearing, pressure plate, and flywheel are considered pieces of the drivetrain and are covered under that warranty. It's the same as the brake calipers being under warranty but not the brake pads.

So if that guys clutch went out because of the TOB, pressure plate, or flywheel it should be covered. If something went wrong with the clutch disc, then it's not covered.
 
#7 ·
well thanks for all the replies, and tugger ill check that e-mail.

maybe we will write to hyundai just to complain but honestly there is no cost involved in this. 90 min ago he already installed the other used pressure plate and by now probably has the transaxle bolted back on ready to drive in another hour.

however i just didnt feel like getting up at 7:30 this morning to help him, i work till 9:30 at night. just pulling trannies is getting old and plus i smashed my finger this morning too. damn theres another fingernail that only has a few weeks left :mad:.

at least the lantra doesnt have that stupid crossmember underneath by teh a-arm mount and the tranny dropped out the bottom instead of trying to squeeze it in from the top like my accent. i was surprised that there is a LOT more room in his bay, the car doesnt seem that much bigger to me but i guess its all in the engine bay and trunk and not in the cabin...