2018 Hyundai Kona - DCT problems

Kona 2018 1.6 dual clutch problem with gears. Car wont engage first gear and falters when moving off from a standing start.

Should still be under warranty. Anything done by other than an authorized service center may void your warranty.

Under warranty, take it to the dealership.

Such a bummer that we see so many issues with the Hyundai DCT. We warned readers in 2016,

Yup!
Unless the OP wants to incur incredibly high repair bills by repairing it on his own–as well as potentially voiding the 10 year/100k mile Powertrain Warranty–he needs to have the dealership sort this out.

Once this problem is repaired under warranty, the OP might want to consider selling/trading this vehicle.

It is very easy for anonymous users on an Internet message board to tell someone to sell/junk/trade-in a car. It is quite another matter for the actual owner to do so, especially if he still owes a lot of money on the car, or lacks the funds to buy something better.

On a 2018, it is highly likely that the vehicle was purchased with a loan, and that the amount owed is way more than this thing could ever be sold or traded-in for. So while objectively speaking, this model may be inherently unreliable, it’s not clear that the OP would benefit from selling/trading it now, as opposed to waiting until the powertrain warranty is over.

When are makers going to give up on these POS . No one seems to be able to get these things to work reliably.

DCT’s behave differently. Watch a few youtube videos and decide if your transmission has an issue or you are not just used to driving a DCT.
I will be the first one to admit that when my manual Ford Focus would go in for warranty work, the loaner with the DCT felt weird to me. It was not what I was used to with the regular automatics.

It seems to be in the heavier vehicles. The Velosters aren’t experiencing premature failure in any significant numbers that I’m aware of. I suspect they saw that it was doing fine in the Veloster, and then stuck it in the SUVs, but it’s too fragile to handle the weight.

There are plenty that work just fine, but they tend to be in the high-dollar cars. The 270mph Bugatti Veyron sports one, and it doesn’t blow up its transmissions. Porsches have had them for years and do fine.

I suspect that the cost involved to make a DCT reliable and able to handle power and/or weight is too much for the more normal-priced cars, however.

… and that is why I stated that he “might want to consider” getting rid of it.
Only the person who is directly involved knows what might–or might not–work for him/her.
:thinking:

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One look at carcomplaints.com led me to avoid the DCT when I bought a Tucson last year.
I think Hyundai and other makers would do better with wet clutches instead of dry.