Q: Expected life of clutch

asked by on October 04, 2016

Clutch has ended its life on car with 32,000 miles. The car has only been driven on short journeys around town. Manufacturer refuses to acknowledge that clutch would wear out faster and insists the life of a clutch if 60000 miles and not the number of times the clutch has been engaged and released. Surely if a car is driven around town all the time the clutch would wear out faster. The maintenance company relies totally on the manufacturer who is reluctant to admit this is true as they insist a clutch will last 60,000 miles regardless of the type of journeys someone takes..could you advise how best to deal with this .thanks..Mike

My car has 32000 miles.
My car has a manual transmission.

The life of a clutch depends on several variables. Of course, the type of driving is going to have an impact on the life expectancy, so is the way the driver uses the clutch. If the car is driven hard, with a lot of stress put on the clutch, it will of course wear faster also. Hard acceleration will wear a clutch very quickly, the more it is used towards the upper end of its potential, the more it will shorten its life. Maybe make a deal with the dealership that you would be willing to pay for an inspection of the clutch, and if it is worn out, they could waive the cost of the inspection.

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