[JeepSomeday]

CLUTCH FAILED !!!

My disgust and dissapointment with this car continues. Today, on way to office (Gurgaon), the clutch of my XUV failed.

Its exactly as some of you have reported earlier.

Suddenly, the clutch pedal went all the way down and refused to bounce back. I pulled it back with my foot, and it started to work again.

Lesson to all: When this happens, and it starts working again once pulled back, it doesnt mean its sorted. It means you have 10 more clutch presses to go before it fails completely. Quickly park at the next most convenient roadside and call the helpline.

Thats what happened to me. After 15 minutes of this first incident, the CLUTCH FAILED COMPLETELY. I was stranded on Golf Course Road, in the middle of busy traffic, with no clutch.

One hour later, the tow truck came and took my car to the workshop.

Thoroughly disgusted and disillusioned with my XUV now. I have written to Anand Mahindra and 5 others in his leadership team. Posting it here (venting basically )


Dear Mr. Mahindra and Mr. Nayer,

I wrote to you a little over 6 months ago (mail below) saying the decision book the XUV5OO within a week of its launch without even test driving the car is the biggest impulsive decision I have ever taken and I feel will be the best one too. I write to you now thoroughly disillusioned and disheartened. This has turned out to be the worst nightmare I could imagine and I genuinely regret my decision of taking this leap of faith.

From the second day of taking ownership of this car, I have been facing problems. I have had a persistent problem of a ‘khat khat’ noise from the rear RHS of the car for which the car has gone to the workshop no less than 6 times in the past 6 months during which even the shockers have been replaced twice. It just came back yesterday from the workshop for the 7th time, after being there this time for 4 days, with this problem unresolved. I was told that the workshop has now given up and the noise will only be rectified by someone from the plant.

Today, on way to office, THE CLUTCH OF MY CAR FAILED. I was stranded on the side of the road in Gurgaon with a failed clutch in a Rs. 14 lac plus car that is 6 months old and has done only 7000km !! It is now parked at the Sterling Motors (Gurgaon) workshop, possibly undergoing a total clutch overhaul !!

Since I am also a member of Team-BHP, I’ve been posting all these issues repeatedly on the forum. I also realize how prevalent such serious issues are in the XUV. I was shocked to see many others posting on clutch failures, little knowing that I would be the next victim.

This apart from the usual problems of ineffective brakes and grating noises for which I believe there is no solution available yet.

You come across on the social media, Sir, as a very different kind of CEO. You listen to feedback on your product, you intervene proactively and inspire so much confidence in the Brand Mahindra. It is unfortunate that the product that bears the name of your brand is precisely the opposite. It is substandard and does not inspire an iota of confidence. Within a matter of months, from being a subject of envy and admiration among my peers and family, I’ve become a subject of mock and ridicule – a laughing stock who bought a 14 lac SUV on installments and now visits the workshop once every 4 weeks.

This is not the outcome of that impulsive decision I was expecting in my wildest dreams.

I really don’t know what you can do for me and my car now. I know for sure that I am now in a hurry to sell this disappointment off and put my hard earned money in a car that I can atleast count on to take me from my home to my office reliably.

[rohitbagai]

Originally Posted by JeepSomeday

CLUTCH FAILED !!!

My disgust and dissapointment with this car continues. Today, on way to office (Gurgaon), the clutch of my XUV failed.

Did you proactively asked for a replacement of the clutch on the first service ? I am asking this because I want to know the RMs point of view and if they already have some kind of list of faulty engine numbers etc.

[AutoIndian]

Hello Jeepsomeday, very sorry to know about this unfortunate incident, my sympathies with you. I can only imagine the mental trauma that you would be undergoing now that you have plonked your hard earned money on not so reliable product. I am still wondering why M&M didn't do a total recall, even after so many incidents clutch failures have been reported. Rather they should have acted pro-actively & made sure that the clutches of all the affected cars are replaced, as they did it for the brakes. Clutch, brakes, gearbox, engine all these are so vital components of any car & these should be the last one to fail in any eventuality.

[Ketan]

Originally Posted by JeepSomeday

CLUTCH FAILED !!!

Sorry to hear this buddy,

Have you seen any alerts on your IS regarding break/clutch fluid! I guess that was one of the symptoms that people reported.

[PGA]

Originally Posted by JeepSomeday

CLUTCH FAILED !!!

My sympathies, you seem to have had a real bad experience with the car. I would recommend that be with the *** while they repair your car. I don't trust any of them, they tend to be casual and a little short on ethics when not supervised by the owner of the vehicle himself.

Do let us know if there were any indications prior to the failure. Also try to investigate the actual components that failed and the reasons for the same.

Regards

[HotChillyPepper]

Originally Posted by JeepSomeday

CLUTCH FAILED !!!

Sorry to hear that buddy. I have no clue why M&M not acting on it on top priority. Especially the fact that brake and clutch has been supplied with fluids from same reservoir it makes the case very urgent for a recall. Now it is Mahindra's turn to "Rise" up to 1000's of XUV customers who made this product a great success.

JS, Please keep us updated on any response you get.

Update of my vehicle:

Flip seat issue not yet resolved. The damaged cable is not reached yet. So practically I have a 5 seater as no one can get into last row seat from 2nd day of purchase.

Infotainment system stops playing the track at the middle by itself. Visited the service station for around 4 times. Also if source is USB, it will always start playing from very first track on USB drive. Issue reproduced at workshop, but they have no clue what to do. My RM send all details to internal folks right in front of me and promised a call back next day. But its more than a week no response from Nippon. Another issue with my unit is left channel is relatively weaker than right. Hence my RM decided to replace the whole unit with a new one. Waiting for the part to arrive. No clue when that going to be.

HCP.

[DoneAndDusted]

Originally Posted by JeepSomeday

CLUTCH FAILED !!!

This is really unfortunate and very worrying. I hope Mahindra responds to you and resolves this quickly. Please let us know how it goes with Mahindra.
I would want to reconsider my booking if you are not getting proper support or responses from these folks

[M124]

Originally Posted by JeepSomeday

CLUTCH FAILED !!!

This was a problem even in the scorpio which we owned for 1 year. problem was rectified within a day by M&M. O.T :Had voted car of the year honda brio not xuv500

[getsurya]

Phew...That is bad to happen Jeepsomeday!

M&M- you seriously need to consider a recall of the car, or else you might suffer serious reputational damage(as in India we can do nothing else!)

[anandtheleo]

Originally Posted by getsurya

Phew...That is bad to happen Jeepsomeday!

M&M- you seriously need to consider a recall of the car, or else you might suffer serious reputational damage(as in India we can do nothing else!)

Scorpio too seems to have this same clutch problem for long now, there is no fall in demand for either the Scorpio or the XUV500.

Wonder who is the vendor for clutch for both these vehicles?

[JeepSomeday]

Originally Posted by rohitbagai

Did you proactively asked for a replacement of the clutch on the first service ? I am asking this because I want to know the RMs point of view and if they already have some kind of list of faulty engine numbers etc.

Well, I did ask my RM the last time my car went to the workshop (this week itself). They said no need for any proactive replacement. The ones coming up for clutch work are the ones driven badly.

Note to self: Be assertive

Originally Posted by AutoIndian

Hello Jeepsomeday, very sorry to know about this unfortunate incident, my sympathies with you. I can only imagine the mental trauma that you would be undergoing now that you have plonked your hard earned money on not so reliable product. I am still wondering why M&M didn't do a total recall, even after so many incidents clutch failures have been reported. Rather they should have acted pro-actively & made sure that the clutches of all the affected cars are replaced, as they did it for the brakes. Clutch, brakes, gearbox, engine all these are so vital components of any car & these should be the last one to fail in any eventuality.

Isnt it disgusting actually? If not this, what else qualifies for a general recall. I mean what else needs to break down for such a significant majority of people for a company to call its product back. But nopes, that will never happen in this country.

I am so motivated right now to go to the consumer court. Shocker failure, clutch failure and brake underperformance in a 6 month old 7000km mileage car certainly seems to be a consumer rights matter to me. What say?

Originally Posted by anandtheleo

Scorpio too seems to have this same clutch problem for long now, there is no fall in demand for either the Scorpio or the XUV500.

Wonder who is the vendor for clutch for both these vehicles?

I guess it will last till the next better alternative comes along. I guess M&M can ride the vaccum for another year atmost now. Then either the quality of this one improves dramatically, or they might start seeing the slide

Originally Posted by getsurya

Phew...That is bad to happen Jeepsomeday!

M&M- you seriously need to consider a recall of the car, or else you might suffer serious reputational damage(as in India we can do nothing else!)

We can go to the consumer court. There are so many of us right here on the forum with a very genuine reason to do this.

Originally Posted by DoneAndDusted

This is really unfortunate and very worrying. I hope Mahindra responds to you and resolves this quickly. Please let us know how it goes with Mahindra.
I would want to reconsider my booking if you are not getting proper support or responses from these folks

I would really suggest a wait of atleast 6 months. I leapt without looking, booking in the first 6 days of launch without even a test drive. It takes a month or two for the polish to wear off, so to speak.

Originally Posted by HotChillyPepper

Sorry to hear that buddy. I have no clue why M&M not acting on it on top priority. Especially the fact that brake and clutch has been supplied with fluids from same reservoir it makes the case very urgent for a recall. Now it is Mahindra's turn to "Rise" up to 1000's of XUV customers who made this product a great success.

JS, Please keep us updated on any response you get.

Update of my vehicle:

Flip seat issue not yet resolved. The damaged cable is not reached yet. So practically I have a 5 seater as no one can get into last row seat from 2nd day of purchase.

Infotainment system stops playing the track at the middle by itself. Visited the service station for around 4 times. Also if source is USB, it will always start playing from very first track on USB drive. Issue reproduced at workshop, but they have no clue what to do. My RM send all details to internal folks right in front of me and promised a call back next day. But its more than a week no response from Nippon. Another issue with my unit is left channel is relatively weaker than right. Hence my RM decided to replace the whole unit with a new one. Waiting for the part to arrive. No clue when that going to be.

HCP.

No real update yet, except that the car is at the workshop and they are saying that the 'slave' cylinder has failed. So they are replacing the entire clutch unit with a new one - the new design some of you were talking about

Originally Posted by PGA

My sympathies, you seem to have had a real bad experience with the car. I would recommend that be with the *** while they repair your car. I don't trust any of them, they tend to be casual and a little short on ethics when not supervised by the owner of the vehicle himself.

Do let us know if there were any indications prior to the failure. Also try to investigate the actual components that failed and the reasons for the same.

Regards

Its goo advise but tough because the car is at the workshop nearest to where it broke down and thats quite far for me. Will have to trust them to to do an honest job repairing it. Though somehow, the response I get from Sterling Gurgaon is quite underwhelming. My guys (specially Santosh) at Koncept Okhla are so much more receptive and responsive.

Originally Posted by Ketan

Sorry to hear this buddy,

Have you seen any alerts on your IS regarding break/clutch fluid! I guess that was one of the symptoms that people reported.

No alerts at all Ketan. Nothing. Just suddenly, the clutch decides to stick to the floor. Thats whats scary. Such a hi-tech car they say this is, all sorts of buzzers and sensors and hooters, and nothing to warn you of such an impending catastrophe. Imagine if this were to happen to someone like Sid while on KhardungLa or some such high desolate road in the wilderness !!

[HotChillyPepper]

Originally Posted by getsurya

Phew...That is bad to happen Jeepsomeday!

M&M- you seriously need to consider a recall of the car, or else you might suffer serious reputational damage(as in India we can do nothing else!)

In other developed nations, if petitioner can prove that the manufacturer or its employees knew about the defect that can affect the safety of user or public before the indecent in question happened, and no corrective measures taken, the consequences will be pretty bad for the accused. In this case it can be easily proven.

The most frustrating thing for me as a customer is there is no line of sight from M&M side about when critical fixes like Brake, suspension going to be released. Also no records on which batch of vehicles are affected by what problem, so that unnecessary fear and speculations in market can be avoided about old issues that are already resolved.

-HCP

[SDP]

Originally Posted by Zappo

I have almost a similar problem with the Navigator. Those turn advices etc are so loud that I start gnashing my teeth soon and then send it on mute. How to reduce that volume?

Zappo, I had a feeling that I had seen it somewhere. Searched for it yesterday. Here's how to access it: Press the Menu button -> Sound -> Volume -> Navigation Volume.

Enjoy!

[moleculez]

Originally Posted by carwatcher

We took delivery of our XUV5OO in Mumbai yesterday. After going through this thread I feel it makes sense to post it here than the official review thread. As the car (or XUV) would not be driven by me on regular basis, I am keeping my fingers crossed wrt clutch and brakes and praying that situation need not arise for me to post something on this thread.

We are also planning to go for Illuminated Scuff plates, but little worried about the capability of the electrician, can someone share the price and suggest a dealer to get it installed safely though the car is bought from NBS Int'l.

Hi! I have the scuff plates installed and that too in Mumbai. Will inbox u my number. You call me so that I can guide u with the same and other issues if needed. I have owened the XUV since Ocotber and have completed almost 14000 kms till now. If i can be of any help to you then great!

[SDP]

Originally Posted by nitinralli

Is there a way we can lower down the volume of the speakers when using it through Bluetooth? I have a Samsung S3 and whenever i receive a call when connected to XUV Bluetooth, the volume of the person on the otherside is way too loud. I tried to control the volume from phone but it didnt help.
Anyone else facing this problem or knows a solution. I checked with my RM and he doesnt have an answer.

Originally Posted by anandtheleo

Did you try reducing the volume from the main infotainment unit when the call is progressing? I do that and it works for me.

Originally Posted by nitinralli

Yup did that but it didnt work.

Nitin, although I have not noticed this till now, specifically tried this today. Paired my Blackberry and I could control the volume from the other party by using the rotary volume control of the main infotainment system. I don't believe its an issue with what device is paired (Samsung, BB or otherwise). Please check your BT s/w version. Mine is 3.24.7