Thanks in advance for your advice.
I purchased the new Karoq 1.5 TSI Petrol late 2018 and in January of this year it rapidly began to judder in high gears and then failed completely. Investigations have shown a worn clutch.
It has less than 8500 miles and was 13 months old.
It has always had a high biting clutch which I assumed was normal for the car. Since repair, however the biting point is much more mid range.
My wife and I who drive the vehicle have 50 years of combined driving experience and we have never had a clutch fail so to be told by Skoda that this is due to "driver influence" was very disappointing.
Skoda are refusing to accept any liability and believe it to be a wear and tear issue and thus not covered under Warranty.
Is there anything I can do about this?
Is there anyway I can prove that the high biting point caused this?
Could Skoda's investigations exclude this? - At present they are telling me that the clutch plate and flywheel show significant signs of disintegration, and would be considered to be ‘blue’ in appearance. I don't really dispute this but I truly believe that the underlying cause is not down to "driver influence".

 

I found an almost identical case here;

 

 

Yours frustrated!
Nathan

12 hours ago, Tblitz said:

It has always had a high biting clutch which I assumed was normal for the car. Since repair, however the biting point is much more mid range

All that point really proves is that you have a different clutch assembly (and possibly flywheel) in the car.

 

If we accept the report that the old flywheel was blued in appearance, that definitely means that it has overheated. I'm not saying whether that was due to driving technique or not, just that it does show signs of overheating.

There are plenty of examples of some clutches not lasting. The problem you have is proving the clutch rather than the driver was at fault.

 

You say the clutch always had a high biting point. Whether or not that is of any significance is irrelevant if you hadn't already reported it as a potential problem.

 

And with the car being over 1 year old, that's more than enough to burn out a clutch.

 

If I were in your position, I'd have asked for the failed parts to be returned and said I'd be submitting them to a specialist for examination. And depending on their report, I'd first be asking the dealership to contact Skoda( or do it yourself ) requesting goodwill citing as many other examples of early clutch failure as I could find + stating you never had such a failure in your life. It might also be worth telling them you're submitting your example to the motoring press ( pick one where premature clutch failure has already been highlighted ).

 

Not sure you'll be sucessful but it's defo worth trying.

Skoda know they have an issue with some of their clutches.

 

By why admit it and pay for their replacement? It's far easier to blame the driver and play the usual old 'wear and tear' card.

 

It's too late now, it sounds as though you've already had it replaced. As above you should have asked for the old clutch back and paid for it to be independently examined.

 

Even if it was found to be attributable to a mechanical or design defect you'd probably still have to pay a solicitor to send a threatening letter to Skoda UK.

 

There have been several failures on the Kodiaq too.