Hard Clutch Pedal - Hyundai Santa Fe

raphal · December 16, 2012

Dear all,

I have an issue with my Hyundai Santa Fe 2011 (Diesel/Manual/4x4). It has now done 20,000Km without problems. 4th service has been done recently in the company at 20,000Km. This time the mechanic told that there is a kind of hardness in the clutch pedal. What he is suspecting is that the pressure plates which has got tougher due to running in the heavy traffic mostly on the clutch. There are no any other problems such as hardness in shifting gears, dropping gears whatsoever. It’s just the hard clutch pedal.

Now I am thinking whether to let the company to work on it which is a sort of big work which they need 2+ days or just ignore it and keep drive. Mechanic says this is not a common problem for this vehicle and it can happen due to a manufacturing fault or else due to wear away. It will be fixed totally free if it is found a manufacturing fault or will cost a lot to fix it by the company if it found a running repair.

Is this a serious issue? Please give me your ideas/experience on this.

Thanks.

Edited December 16, 2012 by raphal

raphal · December 21, 2012

Well I did not get any comments here. Still I would like to share about this issue for the benefit of fellow users.

Cause of the above mentioned hardness in the clutch pedal was due to weaken pressure plates. It should be due to bad driving habit. Means driving it on the clutch in the traffic to minimize changing gears. This vehicle is made for speed. So in the usual traffic in the Colombo (around 40Kmph) you will only be able to shift down maximum to 3rd gear out of 6 gears. So be aware you shift gears properly without running it on the clutch.

Anyway the unit was totally replaced by the Hyundai for free of charge as it is under warranty period. Now it is butter smooth. If it was not covered from the warranty, it would cost you about Rs. 75000/-

Thanks.

GTAm · December 21, 2012

Good to hear you got it under warranty. 75k is a lot of money for a Korean clutch kit. Alfa 159 kit is a little cheaper , 156 just 42k! Anyway even with a lot of de-/clutching 20,000kms is ridiculously low for the pressure plate to wear off IMO. My car has done over 90k on it's original and still feels great and soft. I'm in traffic everyday and I'm not the most gentle driver too.

Have you been able to compare with other Santa Fe users?

Clark's son · December 21, 2012

We have a santafe manual that's gone around 25 000km and I know a person who has one running for more than 90 000km,

There are no issues in the clutch. Haven't shown signs of premature wear.

Either you'r driving is ridiculous or it had a factory fault.

It happened in a 121R that. I knew (toyota corolla) but in that instance the company didn't replace any thing even under the warranty blaming the driving style the owner used a non OEM replacement part.

raphal · January 2, 2013

On 12/21/2012 at 2:48 PM, Clark said:
We have a santafe manual that's gone around 25 000km and I know a person who has one running for more than 90 000km,
There are no issues in the clutch. Haven't shown signs of premature wear.

Either you'r driving is ridiculous or it had a factory fault.

It happened in a 121R that. I knew (toyota corolla) but in that instance the company didn't replace any thing even under the warranty blaming the driving style the owner used a non OEM replacement part.

Probably it is a factory fault. 20000Km is nothing. Earlier we had a Nissan Vannet and it had done more than 300,000Kms before the clutch plates were replaced.

Edited January 2, 2013 by raphal