Is my vehicle under the lemon law or vehicle warranty? Clutch blew out at under 200 miles, not even a week after the sale?

[qtngo]

Hello all,

My name is Quy, I just financed a 2016 Subaru WRX in which the clutch blew out at just 25,630 miles. There was no pressure within the clutch pedal as I tried to exit the highway. I have only driven the vehicle for appox. 3 days for my commute. The car was used and bought at a major dealership. To my attention, I bought the vehicle back for them to see if they can make the repairs however they stated that I wasn't under warranty. The clutch wasn't apart of the warranty yet the vehicle was only used for less than 200 miles and has not lasted for more than a week. I had also bought an aftermarket warranty on top of the sale. To which it states the proper components that is used to repair the clutch mechanism. They blamed that it was due to negligence and bad driving yet I have prior experience in the manual transmission vehicles. Since then, the vehicle cannot be driven therefore it failed state inspection under Massachusetts law. The dealership refuses to repair the car even when I suggest that the car was a lemon. I'm at a loss for words when I approached the dealership to see if they can help me out after I just made a sale with them.
state?

 

[FlyingRon]

By "no pressure within the pedal," do you mean you pushed it to the floor and nothing happened (transmission remained connected to the engine) and no resistance to you pushing it? Did you check the clutch fluid level? These cars are notorious for leaking clutch fluid especially right after the first cold snap of the fall. You can usually get it to work if you pump the pedal a bunch of times.

That is certainly not something you damage by bad technique (now if the clutch was slipping), that would be a different story, but yes, it takes longer than 200 miles typically to do that.

Anyway, if you got a warranty with the purchase of the used car, did you read it? Do you believe that it says this should be covered. It matters not that it broke 3 days or 3 minutes after leaving the lot. The warranty says it's covered or it isn't. Cars are sold as-is.

The Lemon Law (you are lucky that Mass is one of the few states with a used car lemon law) doesn't kick in unless you have it repaired three times for the same issue or that the car remains out of service because of repair for 11 or more business days.

 

[xylene]

Review your warranty carefully, though I strongly suspect a wear item such a clutch is not included.

26,000 miles is pretty early for a clutch, but, you have no idea how the other owner drove. Some people have very very bad habits, such at hoverfooting the clutch (not taking the foot all the way off) aggressively manipulating the shifter, resting the hand on the shifter (which can wear clutch) beyond the obvious of aggressive shifts and other aggressive driving moves such as hard downshifts or otherwise poor clutch control.

Being honest, the WRX is an aggressive sporty car which invites aggressive sporty driving.
You kind of know when you buy such a vehicle the original owner was probably not a grandma

You are probably looking at a 800-1200 dollar repair. Could be less. Subaru is popular and common car in Mass, so finding a good mechanic will not be too much of a problem.

 

[justalayman]

The standards.l Subaru warranty is 3 years/36,000 miles. Depending when it was first sold, it could still be within warranty coverage


And surprisingly It does cover some wear items

Wear Item Limited Warranty

WEAR ITEM COVERAGE is 3 years or 36,000 miles, whichever comes first. Items covered are brake pad/shoe linings, clutch linings, and wiper blades

Although I suspect it isn’t the actual clutch lining which would make it even more likely you could argue the issue was not caused by improper driving techniques. It is more likely something within the clutch linkage (hydraulic system) and unless some yahoo actually broke something by driving it like a race car, it should be covered.


Make them state the reason for the denial in writing. Then, if you can’t get any satisfaction from them, contact Subaru of America. The contact info should be in the owner’s manual or warranty manual.

 

[HRZ]

IS there fluid in the reservoir ? On a different car I've replaced and rebuilt both slave and master cylinders for clutches....not a fun job but I'd rather run up a ramp than spend $1000-1200.... check the larger service manuals or on line manuals to access if it's within your skill levels . On my car the slave was on bottom of bell housing where it got salted to death all too often in winter.

 

[justalayman]

Unless dealer really can attribute the issue to disqualifying activities, it reallly sounds like this should be covered under the manufacturers warranty. (Presuming the car was originally delivered less than 36 months ago). Since they didn’t state coverage had expired but gave abuse as the reason, I would think the time had not expired

Hopefully the op doesn’t have to spend the money or crawl underneath his car.

 

[qtngo]

By "no pressure within the pedal," do you mean you pushed it to the floor and nothing happened (transmission remained connected to the engine) and no resistance to you pushing it? Did you check the clutch fluid level? These cars are notorious for leaking clutch fluid especially right after the first cold snap of the fall. You can usually get it to work if you pump the pedal a bunch of times.

That is certainly not something you damage by bad technique (now if the clutch was slipping), that would be a different story, but yes, it takes longer than 200 miles typically to do that.

Anyway, if you got a warranty with the purchase of the used car, did you read it? Do you believe that it says this should be covered. It matters not that it broke 3 days or 3 minutes after leaving the lot. The warranty says it's covered or it isn't. Cars are sold as-is.

The Lemon Law (you are lucky that Mass is one of the few states with a used car lemon law) doesn't kick in unless you have it repaired three times for the same issue or that the car remains out of service because of repair for 11 or more business days.

Yes, the pedal pushed to the floor when I attempted to exit the highway. When I bought it back to the dealership they told me it was due to neglience driving and since the clutch is a wear and tear item they won’t cover me for the repairs. How would the lemon law work if the dealership didnt refuse to repair but offered a price for the repair instead?

 

[qtngo]

Review your warranty carefully, though I strongly suspect a wear item such a clutch is not included.

26,000 miles is pretty early for a clutch, but, you have no idea how the other owner drove. Some people have very very bad habits, such at hoverfooting the clutch (not taking the foot all the way off) aggressively manipulating the shifter, resting the hand on the shifter (which can wear clutch) beyond the obvious of aggressive shifts and other aggressive driving moves such as hard downshifts or otherwise poor clutch control.

Being honest, the WRX is an aggressive sporty car which invites aggressive sporty driving.
You kind of know when you buy such a vehicle the original owner was probably not a grandma

You are probably looking at a 800-1200 dollar repair. Could be less. Subaru is popular and common car in Mass, so finding a good mechanic will not be too much of a problem.

Not likely 800-1200. More like 1800-2500.

 

[qtngo]

The standards.l Subaru warranty is 3 years/36,000 miles. Depending when it was first sold, it could still be within warranty coverage


And surprisingly It does cover some wear items





Although I suspect it isn’t the actual clutch lining which would make it even more likely you could argue the issue was not caused by improper driving techniques. It is more likely something within the clutch linkage (hydraulic system) and unless some yahoo actually broke something by driving it like a race car, it should be covered.


Make them state the reason for the denial in writing. Then, if you can’t get any satisfaction from them, contact Subaru of America. The contact info should be in the owner’s manual or warranty manual.

Their reason for denying warranty coverage was due to neglience driving and that the full clutch kit is a wear and tear component which is not covered.

 

[qtngo]

Unless dealer really can attribute the issue to disqualifying activities, it reallly sounds like this should be covered under the manufacturers warranty. (Presuming the car was originally delivered less than 36 months ago). Since they didn’t state coverage had expired but gave abuse as the reason, I would think the time had not expired

Hopefully the op doesn’t have to spend the money or crawl underneath his car.

The car’s been over 3 years unfortunately, i think a service advisor told me the original warranty expired in last July. Talk about bad luck right? It sucks because this dealership isnt understanding that the car was just bought within 3-5 days. The car hasnt even been driven that long for the clutch to blown out.

 

[justalayman]

Their reason for denying warranty coverage was due to neglience driving and that the full clutch kit is a wear and tear component which is not covered.

I provided the section of the owner’s manual that states the clutch disc (the part with the friction material that is consider the wear item) is covered for 3 years or 36,000 miles.

That is not likely to be the issue though but the rest is also warranted at 3 years or 36,000 miles.

Obviously abuse or neglect nulls the warranty but simply stating it was driven hard is not proof of anything. They have to be able to support their statement b

 

[justalayman]

The car’s been over 3 years unfortunately, i think a service advisor told me the original warranty expired in last July. Talk about bad luck right? It sucks because this dealership isnt understanding that the car was just bought within 3-5 days. The car hasnt even been driven that long for the clutch to blown out.

From what I can find, the 2016 wrx wasn’t released until late 2015. I would definately check the delivery date of your car to ensure whether the warranty has expired or not.

You can start with the production date on the door jamb sticker. If it states the car was built after July you know the dealer is lying. If the date is after today’s date of 2015, the warranty was in effect when the clutch failed. Yoi May have to contact Subaru of America to check on the activation of the warranty date.

 

[justalayman]

From what I can find, the 2016 wrx wasn’t released until late 2015. I would definately check the delivery date of your car to ensure whether the warranty has expired or not.

You can start with the production date on the door jamb sticker. If it states the car was built after July you know the dealer is lying. If the date is after today’s date of 2015, the warranty was in effect when the clutch failed. Yoi May have to contact Subaru of America to check on the activation of the warranty date.

But as to how long the car has been drive before the clutch went out

It’s been at least 25,000 miles and at least from the dealer you spoke with, over 3 years.

 

[xylene]

A heavy duty sport clutch kit is less than 300 bucks. Subaru say's 4.5 hours for the job. Let's say 6. even at 179 bucks an hour (high rate) still less than 1400 bucks.

Get a few more non dealer estimates. Try a import performance shop.

 

[qtngo]

A heavy duty sport clutch kit is less than 300 bucks. Subaru say's 4.5 hours for the job. Let's say 6. even at 179 bucks an hour (high rate) still less than 1400 bucks.

Get a few more non dealer estimates. Try a import performance shop.

Apparently the subaru advisor quoted me $1,820 which is parts and labor with discounted because I did a sale with them recently. They said they even check the labor rates based on the job required. Other shops had quoted me above 2k which includes parts and labor.