[Trejster]

I have a leased 2 year old 1.0 TSI SE Ateca, just over 14k mileage. A few days ago I was driving with my family on the a470 in 4th gear when suddenly the gear indicator started advising to move into 3rd (as if in second gear). The revs shot up and I realised the car was stuck in second gear. I could not select another gear. I pulled in, lots of smoke coming out of the bonnet and metallic burning smell. Got the family out of the car onto the side of the road as quickly as possible.

Long story short we had to get recovered back home at our expense and took it to the Seat Garage. After their initial inspection they are suggesting burnt out clutch which they say wont be covered under warranty (I know this is the case as its a wear and tear item). Costs will be upwards of £1600 to repair. They haven't yet taken the gearbox out yet, that is happening on Monday - however I'm pretty sure the result will be the same.

I've been driving about 20 years, have driven a number of different cars and have never burnt out a clutch before so refuse to belive this is down to driving style. Worst thing is this is a leased car, I still have 1 year left on the lease and frankly I dont want to drive it any more - don't want to risk an accident if it happens again with my family in the car!

I've found a few old threads with people that have had similar problems. I'd love to hear from anyone else that has had this issue and managed to get it resolved? Not sure how to proceed with this, I want to contest it but not quite sure how - I found another thread where someone had won a court case so maybe thats the route we have to take. I hope not tbh, but willing to do so if we have to

 

[Guest]

Pole sana...

There are a couple of incidents of burnt out clutches, I see you have found a previous thread on this.

There does appear to be an issue, I would take it up with SEAT UK. It appears the TRoc has similar issues as well...

I'm sure AutoExpress, AutoCar and Honest John would be very happy to hear about this issue, especially if you give them links to all the other threads on this.

Hope you get it sorted. Please do keep us updated.

 

[tobydog]

Trejster - what engine do you have? Is it the 1.0 petrol? This particular engine clutch has some history with this issue.

 

[Trejster]

Trejster - what engine do you have? Is it the 1.0 petrol? This particular engine clutch has some history with this issue.

Yes thats correct it is the 1 litre petrol

 

[David Gatenby]

Hi Trejster
I have replied to you on the forum website giving (reluctantly) my email address so I can speak to you direct as I no longer access this website regularly. Please email your contact details to me at [email protected]

 

[David Gatenby]

Please let me have your contact details by email to the address below so I can contact you directly. I have just seen your request by chance as I dont access the forum on a regular basis.
[email protected]

 

[Mill]

D G why not use the P M link?

 

[Mill]

I think it could be an engine / clutch mismatch on the 1.0 l, On 3 separate occasions I had the distinctive burning clutch smell , now have a 2.0 l diesel and no problem so far touch wood!

 

[Guest]

@Trejster - Can you let us know how you are getting on with this, please?

 

[Atecamack]

I think it could be an engine / clutch mismatch on the 1.0 l, On 3 separate occasions I had the distinctive burning clutch smell , now have a 2.0 l diesel and no problem so far touch wood!

That is a cause for concern for me, Had a whiff of clutch the other day, just passed 10k miles in 9 months.
Luckily its a company car.

 

[ABrad]

Hi Trejster,

I am having a very similar issue with SEAT. Can I ask, what was the eventual outcome for you??

 

[Jack17]

Hi we lease a seat ateca 1.0 se have had no issues for two years with it, however it went in for 18,000 miles service, I was told on the phone when I booked it in that there was a software update for the park assist, the car then came out after service. About two weeks later began to have intermittentpark assist failure to release we were going to book it in first week of december to be looked at but as usual life got in the way.Three weeks after the service the car got stuck on a hill, park assist was on and failed to release. The car would not move. Revs were going through the roof and burning smell along with smoke coming out of the bonnet.Applied handbrake to try and free the car to move, this worked after a few seconds, but as I approached a mini roundabout at the top of the hill, whilst slowing down the park assist cut in again causing the car to come to an abrupt stop in the middle of the roundabout at rush hour not nice! still smoke billowing out of the bonnet and the car now also filling with fumes and burning smell horrendous! Managed to move the car off the roundabout and called the AA. They came out and said it may be driver error and recommended it go to dealer, tried to book it in but had a five day wait so we had to contact the AA again different engineer came and said the park assist is sticking causing abnormal wear on the clutch. WE have just received an email from lease company to say they need £1,500 to cover the damage!!!!! Cluitch and flywheel. WE are at our wits end, The whole point of us leasing a car was for us to have a reliable car with no maintenance bills this has certainly not lived up to that we were expecting.This was a traumatic experience and not least dangerous, but seat and the dealer seem totally unrepentent, accusing us of being bad drivers, with over 20 years driving experience each,we have an 18 year old ibiza with over 150,000 miles which has had one clutch really!!!!! If anyone has any advice we would be so grateful as this is so distressing. Many thanks.

 

[Grahamn]

Another owner on this forum had the same sort of problem (clutch failure). He had to take the dealer to court and he won. The thread is here, so worth a read: https://www.atecaforums.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1916&hilit=clutch+court&start=50

I have had auto-hold issues in the past and was advised SEAT are aware of issue but are still working on the problem...mine normally starts being a problem after creeping along in stop/start traffic queues.

 

[Golfmk56]

Hi we lease a seat ateca 1.0 se have had no issues for two years with it, however it went in for 18,000 miles service, I was told on the phone when I booked it in that there was a software update for the park assist...

If anyone has any advice we would be so grateful as this is so distressing. Many thanks.

A little confusing this post.

First off if you're stuck on a hill then it will be auto hold or hill hold that's at fault (sounds like the brake is not releasing). So when you say you had intermittent park assist failure, was the error message actually park assist failure because that's something entirely different.

There have obviously been issues with your car but from your description I can see where the lease company are coming from. If the car wasn't pulling away correcty, you should have called the recovery services. Standing on the accelerator to the point where revs were going thru the roof means you've just added to the problem.

Sounds very much like the faulty brake is a warranty problem, but the resulting burnt clutch I'm afraid was yours. If you'd kept quiet about the revs and the smoke and parking on a slope etc, you may have had a case for SEAT to pick up the bill.

 

[blueyonder]

I've just caught up with this thread and several others relating to clutch/ flywheel issues on low mileage Atecas. I also have the 1.0, 7 months old and just past 12,000 miles. On the Monday before Christmas my wife was driving and called me, saying that the clutch was slipping and there was a strong clutch smell. I told her to pull over immediately and then she was completely unable to select a gear. She had just been driving on a motorway so in 6th gear for most of the drive.

The car was recovered to the dealer and they called to say the clutch was burnt out and that this was a wear & tear item, also the flywheel was marked and would also require replacing since it could lead to possible judder. 1400 pounds. They provided a courtesy car.

A quick search on this forum and it soon became apparent to me that there were a number of similar issues on similar mileage vehicles and engine-size vehicles. When I went back to the dealer they admitted they were aware of the issue, and that a customer had successfully won in small claims court. They rebutted that they had recently had a customer with the same issue who also commissioned an independent mechanic's report and that it had found in Seat's favour.

They told me that if I didn't replace the flywheel, I'd probably be OK, and that out of goodwill they would bring the clutch replacement bill down from 750 to 600 GBP. Since they had the gearbox out I was already out several hundred pounds. By going down the road of disputing the wear and tear and commissioning a report, I reckoned that the hassle of challenging the finding and being without a car for a period of time wasn't worth the time and expense, so I reluctantly paid up and got the vehicle back yesterday.

However, this didn't sit well with me. My wife and I have both been driving for over 20 years and have owned new and used cars, and have never had an issue with a clutch burning out before. We chose the Ateca having researched similar vehicles in its class and a key reason for choosing it was to enjoy hassle-free ownership of a new car. Now, I don't know whether to trust the car... will this clutch also burn out after a similar number of miles? To be told that it is down to driver style/ error and that a clutch can burn out in one afternoon just doesn't tally with all the other cars we've driven. Seat clearly know this is an issue but continue to hide behind the wear & tear line. There is enough anecdotal evidence to suggest otherwise.

 

[Rory]

If it's about the money you could write to the dealer and ask them to refund you. They'll refuse of course, so then go down the Small Claims route. No guarantee of success but others have won.

Otherwise, if your favourite newspaper has a consumer helpline perhaps try that. WhatCar used to have a helpdesk but I don't know if they still do that sort of thing.