[SajiNSalin]

After two and a half months of trouble free driving (4000km) the Duster AWD has shown it can be very bad.

On a drive of just 2 km in Trivandrum city, passerbys noticed smoke coming from the engine bay and alerted my wife, who was driving, to stop. Smoke was seen coming from various places under the bonnet. RSA was called and they did a good job of taking the vehicle to TVS Trivandrum last night. Today they called to give the good news that the clutch is fried and will cost 19K.

The vehicle has run 39K km and is just over two years old (Dec 3). I told them they should replace under warranty as I have the extended warranty. They have told they will check. Clutch failure at 39K is unheard of in better built vehicles (My previous 800 went for 17 years and 75k km and the Dzire stayed with me for 60k km and 6 years; both without the problems I am facing with this fantastic Duster).

I have encountered the common problems with the Duster:

1 - two injectors replaced under warranty in early October 2017.

2. Clutch replacement now

Next looks like shocks replacement; I don't know when!

Oh, what a Duster!

[SajiNSalin]

I have sent the following mail to Renault customer service.

Dear customer service,

My Duster AWD, purchased on December 3 2015, suffered a breakdown in Trivandrum city on December 11. Smoke was seen coming from the engine bay and passerbys alerted us to this dangerous situation. Fortunately, the vehicle was stopped and parked in a safe place. Road side Assistance did a good job of taking the vehicle to Trivandrum Renault workshop.

Renault Trivandrum contacted me yesterday to say that the clutch needs to be replaced and the cost is Rs 19,000. To give you a background of the horrible experience with this vehicle, I had a breakdown near Salem in October 2017 (two months ago), and the vehicle was taken to Renault Salem and two of the diesel injectors were replaced under warranty. This vehicle is not at all reliable and cannot be trusted to go anywhere without breaking down.

I had taken extended warranty for two years at the time of purchase in December 2015. Now, I am being asked to pay the cost of clutch replacement and labour charges. i have refused to do so as I have used the vehicle only for 2 years and 39,000 km. No decent vehicle will have clutch failure at 39000 km. My previously owned Maruti vehicles did not require clutch replacement even after 17 years and 75000km.

The vehicle is obviously of poor quality. I would like to know why I am not being offered free replacement of the clutch, since I have extended warranty.

Let us see if any good will come out from them. Previous experience is not encouraging.

[revved_up]

Originally Posted by SajiNSalin

I have sent the following mail to Renault customer service.

Let us see if any good will come out from them. Previous experience is not encouraging.

First and foremost, I feel really sorry for what you are going through after spending well over 15 lakhs on a vehicle.
I also agree, Duster has a fair bit of issue and i have also been through many. Luckily, havent been stranded yet on the road.

I would suggest you send a message to Renault India on twitter and facebook, they are very responsive there. I found them more responsive than the customer care.

[v6kgang]

Originally Posted by SajiNSalin

2. Clutch replacement now

Next looks like shocks replacement; I don't know when!

Oh, what a Duster!

Already been through clutch replacement along with flywheel assembly at 24000 KMs.. Done 45000 KMs after replacement and all good so far. I know it's not a competition, but the quality issues are mounting as days pass by...

[SajiNSalin]

Thanks, revved_up, I posted my complaint on facebook and as you indicated, I got a quick response. I have told them the clutch has failed prematurely and should be considered a quality issue and replaced as the vehicle is under extended warranty. They said they will get back to me. Meanwhile, Renault Trivandrum, is in a hurry to complete the replacement. I told them I will not pay and they have kept the work on hold. Let us see how Renault resolves the issue.

Thanks v6kgang for the information. Failure at 24K km is atrocious. In my case, the flywheel seems to be ok. Did they replace the clutch and flywheel under warranty?

The combined effect of multiple failures leaves me worried about taking this vehicle anywhere. In fact, last weekend, I took the train to go to Bekal beach and it was a relief as everything worked out.

[SajiNSalin]

Finally got a reply from Renault saying pay up for the clutch replacement.

Here is the reply:

From RENAULT TRIVANDRUM

Hi Sir,

Greetings from Renault Service Trivandrum....!

This is regarding your Duster bearing Reg.No. KL01BV7825.

Please accept our sincere apologies for the inconvenience you may have experienced from our end.


We are deeply regretted to inform you that we will not able to replace the Clutch under warranty as the same is “wear and tear” parts. For your kind understanding I will explain more about the details mentioned in your Owner’s Manual.Please refer Renault New vehicle warranty terms & Conditions page, below mentioned is the details;

The Renault New Vehicle Warranty does not cover and Renault India Private Limited(RIPL) and/or Renault Authorized Workshop shall not be responsible for the following;

# Replacement of Parts due to wear and tear resulting from use of the Vehicle or from its Mileage including but not limited to Clutch, Shocker absorbers, Wiper blades, brake drum, brake disk, brake pads, brake shoe,lamp,plugs,belts,linings,bulbs,fuses,parts made of rubber, etc

After considering the above points the Warranty will not be applicable to your car.

For further clarifications and communications do not hesitate to contact me.

Assuring you the best of our services in future......

Thanks and Regards

Customer Relation Manager

Renault Service Trivandrum"

Does this means the new car warranty is not in any way useful to the owner as all parts undergo wear and tear?

Forget the money wasted on the extended warranty?

[xjosephjacob]

Originally Posted by SajiNSalin

Finally got a reply from Renault saying pay up for the clutch replacement.

Here is the reply:.....

Does this means the new car warranty is not in any way useful to the owner as all parts undergo wear and tear?

Forget the money wasted on the extended warranty?

Sorry to hear the trouble your car is bringing in over and over again. Warranty and extended warranty doesn't cover wear and tear parts; unless the service center is convinced that there's a underlying problem it's hard to get them replaced. Please loop in TVS also- I'm assuming the Service center at Trivandrum is operated by them.

Will PM you a couple of contacts that I'm aware of.

[SajiNSalin]

Yes, the Trivandrum service is done by TVS. Thanks for the contacts. Going by the long list of problems related to the Duster AWD, I dont't know when the ride will go hard due to shocks failure.

Cost of ownership is turning out to be high, since two injectors are OEM and likely to fail any moment and four shocks too. Plus small issues like AC knob, fuel gauge, brakes etc..

[v6kgang]

Originally Posted by SajiNSalin

Thanks v6kgang for the information. Failure at 24K km is atrocious. In my case, the flywheel seems to be ok. Did they replace the clutch and flywheel under warranty?
.

It happened within a year of purchase, but it was not covered under warranty..I had to pay around 80K if I remember correctly for clutch and flywheel assembly.
It's sad that this vehicle is turning out to be a nightmare . I am getting repeated calls from Renault Service to turn in my car for 70K service which I am avoiding as I may have to keep aside 50 to 70 K for it.

[saurabh sharma]

Duster AWD does indeed have curious niggles, my 2016 vehicle has run 33k kms and atleast at 4 separate occasions the clutch failed to bounce back up after pressing it to engage gears. Interestingly every time this happened it was not me driving the car, has never happened with me. Probably because I press the clutch down till the very bottom and others probably do not. Another problem which Renault hasn't been able to sort it that the car pulls to the left, apparently there is no provision of adjustment in Duster front suspension for this.

[SajiNSalin]

Originally Posted by v6kgang

It happened within a year of purchase, but it was not covered under warranty..I had to pay around 80K if I remember correctly for clutch and flywheel assembly.

This is too bad. There should be a Mean Time Before Failure (MTBF) criteria for all parts. The warranty should cover the reliability of parts taking into account the MTBF. If the MTBF of the clutch assembly is, say 70,000 km, all failures before that should be within warranty. Of course, they can also look at abuse, such as riding the clutch to decide the exclusions.

I wonder whether manufacturers do a failure analysis of parts which fail before the MTBF to decide what went wrong? There is no transparency in these dealings. How do we owners know that the ASS is not pulling a fast one on us to make some money?

[v6kgang]

I think they do part failure analysis, atleast to stock the commonly failing parts in their service centers. Whether it makes it back to the production line is something questionable and depends on the manufacturer. But I am inclined to think it makes it to the production line as the recalls normally are not for every car that has been sold in that model but for specific series which has the affected part.
Personally for me, clutch operations have always been a problem and had to heavily change my driving behaviour to make this clutch last long. Atleast for the clutch I won't blame the manufacturer here as the longetivity is on the user on this one.
I once had a Tata clutch failing on me in 1200 KMs and it was not covered under warranty either..but part cost of Tata was around 6K so just paid it off after a big hassle and standoff with service center and Tata Motors.

[Tgo]

Originally Posted by v6kgang

Personally for me, clutch operations have always been a problem and had to heavily change my driving behaviour to make this clutch last long. Atleast for the clutch I won't blame the manufacturer here as the longetivity is on the user on this one.

How much has your duster done a now after the clutch replacement?

[Tgo]

Originally Posted by v6kgang

I am getting repeated calls from Renault Service to turn in my car for 70K service which I am avoiding as I may have to keep aside 50 to 70 K for it.

Just go ahead it won't be that bad.

Originally Posted by saurabh sharma

Another problem which Renault hasn't been able to sort it that the car pulls to the left, apparently there is no provision of adjustment in Duster front suspension for this.

Having the same problem with my dad's 2012 Duster. Co-Tech (Technical Coordinator) at Renault checked it and said to keep the vehicle for a day. he would replace suspension parts and do repeated trials to check which part is at fault. Later that part can be replaced. he said he can fix it by altering the alignment but then the tyres will wear out prematurely. Living with it for now.

[v6kgang]

Originally Posted by Tgo

How much has your duster done a now after the clutch replacement?

45+K so far after the clutch replacement. Looks and behaves normal as of now.

Originally Posted by Tgo

Just go ahead it won't be that bad

My SA has already asked me to change a couple of things in 70K Service, Like rear left Shock absorber due to oil leakage, brake pads on all 4 wheels, need to replace my tyres.. [OFFTOPIC: anyone have tried GoodYears? am getting it for around 5.5K per piece from Amazon, wanted to go for Michelin, but its 9K]. So all together it's going to be a hefty service, wallet wise.

But, right from day 1, never had the left pulling issue...this was a known issue in my Manza, which was never corrected and simply unresolvable, so can understand the plight of the issue.