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I need some advice please regarding my Ford Fiesta ST-3 2016. I had a problem about 3 months ago, I was driving and the clutch randomly slipped causing the revs to shoot up. It was on a Saturday so immediately called Ford on the following Monday. After explaining I can barely drive it, they told me to try and drive it to the garage on that Friday for them to look at it.

On my journey there, I broke down on a dual carriage way and had to get AA to take me to Ford Evans Halshaw. After arriving I stated what happened again and they mentioned they will see if it’s under warranty. Bare in mind I stated they will discover it is worn and most likely have damaged the flywheel from the journey that they told me to take.

When I broke down there was an excess amount of smoke from my engine and all you could smell was clutch. My father is a driving instructor and I don’t rest my foot on the clutch, I don’t pull off in the wrong gears or over-rev while doing so. I never had a fault with my previous car which was a 2003 Corsa, over 100k miles on the clock when bought and done a further 40k miles.

Ford is trying to blame me and I’m assuming it’s because it’s a sporty car and I’m quite young. I have been trying to seek advice of so many citizen advice companies but am getting no luck. I have provided numerous appeals and disputes against the fault being driver technique but haven’t got anywhere.

There was no build up to the fault, clutch would work fine and the biting point would be perfect on all the steep hills in my area. It suddenly happened out of the blue and after speaking to some mechanics, they believe out of a year old car, bought last August, along with only 11,000 miles should never have gone suddenly. I believe it was a manufacture fault but have been asked to prove so?

Another point is that my father has a new regular Ford Foesta every year, that’s learners doing over 1,000 miles a week, over-revving, pulling off in wrong gear, constantly stalling and he has never received a problem. He believes something must of caused it to slip to then burn out the clutch completely, along with damaging the flywheel.

Is there anywhere I stand? What’s my best way to prove it must of been their fault? There is hardly any remains of the clutch but are there other parts that could of caused it to slip?

Thanks in advance

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    Welcome to Motor Vehicle Maintenance & Repair! You never state how many miles are on the vehicle at the time it reached the dealership. While this may have a bearing on your situation, really your question is more of a legal question than it is a mechanical question. Something to remember at this point, though, is you are currently dealing with the dealership. If your car is still under warranty and you're not getting the help you believe you need, you can always appeal what's going on to the next higher level or to Ford themselves. Just remember, what they tell you is your final answer.
    – Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 ♦
    Commented Nov 13, 2017 at 20:14

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I agree that a 1 year old car with 11k miles should NOT have issues like that.

That said, there are a few things you should do.

  1. Check the warranty paperwork that should have come with your car. Assuming you purchased it new then Ford has a pretty good warranty. This is the US warranty that they offer. I'm sure it will be a bit different in other countries - ergo why I say check your paperwork.
  2. As Paulster said, you can go to Ford. If the dealership is giving you problems, go to them.

Also, what did the dealership decide was wrong with the car once you brought it in?

Like I say, I'm sure the warranties vary a bit by country, but in the US they do 12k miles bumper to bumper - so literally anything (except for tires I believe) that breaks can be replaced under warranty.

EDIT: Also, this assumes that you did keep up with any maintenance in the Ford manual. If you don't keep up with the Ford maintenance schedule, they don't (usually) have to honor the warranty.

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Unfortunately a clutch is considered a consumable item, however warranty claims on vehicles with such low miles are taken into account here, especially if there are no signs that the vehicle has been abused etc promoting the excessive wear/failure.

If the clutch has failed suddenly without any signs of slipping or at least a burning friction material smell then it's very likely that the friction material on the pressure plate has failed and rapidly disintegrated, OR the clutch has had some sort of issue regarding its operating mechanism. There are reports of owners having clutch issues with ST models were the slave cylinder leaks inside the bell-housing contaminating the pressure plate & leading to slipping and very premature wear/failure.

Excessive crank end-float has been suggested also as a contributing factor in some cases, this would aid in clutch to slip as the crank tries to back away from the clutch slightly when pedal pressure is applied. It would be worth having this checked when the vehicle is being repaired because if there is excessive end float a new clutch likely won't see a full life either.

Here is just one of the many reports out there..

https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/askhj/answer/70338/ford-fiesta-st-clutch-failure-

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