A little under a year ago, less than 11 months to be exact, we bought a new car to replace the dying Saturn (sniff sniff)
We purchased a Matrix XRS 6-speed manual transmission.
As said, it is now eleven months later. There are almost 18K miles on the car. Wednesday, the transmission began to die. By thursday evening… mostly not drivable. Friday morning it went in to the shop. I had the car at 8 am and had made an appointment.
By 2 pm they finally looked at it. (Ironically, the rental car I got from Hertz was a Matrix XR automatic, same year, same colour.) It turns out the clutch is fried. They went on to explain that the clutch is not under warranty and they’d be happy to fix it for $900.
This is where the side of Andrei came out that most people really don’t want to see.
So, let me get this straight. My new car that is not nearly a year old with under 20K in milage has lost the clutch and you’re telling me it’s most likely my fault. Ignoring for a moment the fact that I put nearly 90K miles on a manual transmission Saturn and NEVER had a clutch problem… How could I have done that to a clutch.
“Oh, that usually happens because the driver races the car and rides the clutch.”
Folks, unless I race it nightly and have three feet, there is no way I could possibly do the level of damage they are telling me potentially happened to the car. I italicize that word because, they won’t actually examine the clutch until I commit to paying to have it removed and taking it apart. $600
Well, Friday I bellowed and yelled (professionally), Today I called around and found out that Pasadena Toyota said the same thing to a guy that lost his clutch after 12K miles. More bellowing and calling (professionally)… I have to go through the process.
The process is that I need to commit to paying the tear-down of the transmission. (So much for a drive train warranty). Out of the goodness of their heart, they were willing to waive half of that $600 charge. (The regional rep told me several times, “I don’t have to do that.”)
In the mean time I made the glorious discovery of MatrixOwner.com
I went to the forums to see if this was normal. I found SCORES of people who’ve been having this problem with 2003, ’04, and ’05 models. But the only way Toyota notices is if people complain to the corporate customer satisfaction center. I’ve informed the other matrix owners about this š
So… here I sit. Waiting to find out if they’re gonna tell me, “Yup it’s defective, we’ll fix it.” or “Nope, looks worn out, must be your fault, pay up.” Meanwhile, I’m on day 4 of my rental.
So… what am I doing in the mean time? I’m looking up “Class Action Suit” on wikipedia.
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What is the mindset of an Aries?
“Never start a fight, but always finish it.” – John Sheridan, Babylon – 5
I am Jack’s day job. “If the cost of repairs and out of court settlements is less than the cost of doing a recall, we don’t do a recall.”
You would probably be able to guess…
how many times that line or one similar (A*B=C) has come up in the past weekend. š
and this is why Brad and I for the past eight years Brad and I only buy from Saturn. Cars and the customer service are always outstanding.
Sorry you’re going through this hon. Keep us posted about the f*cknuts.
I had my Camaro’s clutch replaced for free when it had less than 300 miles on it…I WAS RACING and had a full car with guys over 200 lbs. Sue the fuckers!
Right! A clutch SHOULD NOT go out that early! I know that a clutch is a part that is subject to wear and is not covered under warrantly HOWEVER this is the original clutch and it didn’t even last a YEAR!! This should be a recall issue! Hook up with other matrix owners and file a lawsuit!
No way a clutch should go out that early. I drive a ’95 Toyota Corolla, manual transmission, of which I am the original owner. I just replaced the clutch for the first time a couple of months ago. That’s right, it went nine years and 120,000 miles on the original clutch. And I’m actually pretty rough on the clutch; I like to do things like remain motionless on an uphill slope while waiting for the light to change by balancing the clutch and the gas. I’m told this is a terrible, terrible thing to do to a clutch. Nevertheless, nine years and 120,000 miles. I certainly can’t complain that I finally had to replace it after that long.
hey, just was talking to another matrix owner to see if he’d heard of this. He said he had and gave me this URL to report such things http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/complain/ Might help get a recall to fix it.