Before you consider buying ANY Hyundai product, please read about my experience!
I have just taken my car into Richmond Hyundai Portsmouth to have it checked as the clutch had FAILED. The car has covered 18,000 miles, is in daily gentle use and has NEVER shown the slightest sign of clutch wear whatsoever, no slipping clutch, no change in clutch pedal travel, no baulking gear changes, nothing. The car has FHSH and had just been into Richmond Hyundai Portsmouth, for a full service not 6 weeks and less than 1000 miles before and there was no mention of clutch issues, because there weren't any. The service manager at Richmond, then told me that the reason the clutch wouldn't engage was that the clutch had "welded" itself to the pressure plate with rust, and asked whether the car had been left for several weeks parked in a flood! Of course I explained that it had never been parked in a flood and the car is in daily use, which I can happily prove with our CCTV. He then asked me whether the car had been driven through any water? Well, as I live in the UK which has just had the wettest April for 100 years, I would have to admit that yes, it has been driven through puddles. This apparently, may be the cause!!!! I may not be an automotive engineer but, in my humble opinion if the Hyundai i30 is supposed to be driven only in dry conditions, then I would suggest that it should only be sold in particularly arid countries and certainly not in the UK which is quite prone to rain. Richmond Hyundai told me that this is not going to be covered by warranty as the clutch is showing wear and therefore cannot be a warranty claim. The clutch is showing wear? I'm sure all clutches that have been installed in a car will show wear if the car has been used at all, it is a part that is designed to wear. This is nothing to do with clutch wear, it is to do with the clutch FAILING due to a design fault or manufacturing defect, or is it normal for the clutch to “weld” itself to the pressure plate with rust? So, Richmond Hyundai want me to pay £630.00 to repair this failure, which I absolutely refuse to do. They asked me to authorise them to put the car back together, so that this cost can then be fully incurred. I will not. If this is how they treat customers, when their clutch fails due to being rusted to the pressure plate, even though it is only 3 years old, done 18,000 miles, is in daily use and has never been in a flood, then I will be obliged to take whatever action necessary to get this resolved satisfactorily and to inform other Hyundai customers and potential customers of A. this "dry use only" clutch problem and B. The way Richmond Hyundai and Hyundai UK deal with issues like this. I will also take this to the Trading Standards and if necessary to court as I absolutely refuse, on principal, to pay for what is obviously either a design fault, manufacturing defect or downright shoddy manufacturing or materials. I have spoken to Hyundai UK’s customer care department and after speaking to Richmond Hyundai Portsmouth, they have also refused a warranty claim.
