Clutch problems on a new car

I have a six month old Seat Altea, 20,000Km on the clock, last friday there was a terrible smell of a burning clutch, the smell dissapated after I stopped the car and let it cool down. I took it to the garage on Monday morning. They have told me that the problem is the clutch but appearently they say that the clutch is only under warrenty for the first 10,000Km or so if they take out the clutch and they only find wear and tear the clutch will not be covered under warrenty, it is only covered under warrenty if they find something mechanically wrong with it. There is considerable cost involved in replacing the clutch.
I have been driving for almost 30 years and have never burnt out a clutch, I have no towbar so I am not towing big loads and am not a boy racer so I can not understand how a brand new car can have anything wrong with the clutch and how I should be responsible for the costs of replacing it.
Has anyone been in a similar situation or know of any problems with the Altea. Any advice on how to proceed would be great



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Here is a contact point for Seat Ireland customer service, I'm sure they will be delighted to hear from you - http://www.seat.ie/contentv3/index.cfm?fuseaction=page&pageID=7210

Is the car a diesel? If so the dual-mass fly-wheel / clutch are well-known weak points on these and other VW group diesel cars.

Hi

Thanks for the reply, the car is diesel and the warranty only covers the clutch up to 10,000Km. My point is that a new car should not have any problems, thats the whole point of getting a new car to avoid problems caused through general wear and tear; surely 6 months cover or cover up to 10,000 km is inadequate, at this rate I would have to replace the clutch twice yearly. I would feel the car is not living up to an acceptable standard of performance and is thereby in breach of my consumers rights.

Any ideas?. Priscilla.