SEAT Ibiza FR
A seat belt fault and a squeaky clutch afflict our warm hatch
I T’S NOT BEEN THE BEST OF months for the Ibiza. Getting a call from the SEAT press office with a safety warning isn’t the most reassuring way to start the day. Or indeed instil confidence in a car that’s been my daily companion for most of this year.
It turns out that carrying three passengers in the rear of the current Ibiza is not in your (and certainly not their) best interest, because when the middle seat is occupied, a sudden lane change can cause the seat belt buckle holder to push down on the button for the belt to the left, causing it to unlock. It’s not just the Ibiza that’s affected, either. It’s a problem on SEAT’S Arona compact crossover and Volkswagen’s Polo, too.
Now I’m no expert, but I’m pretty sure seat belts are a fairly important feature on a car, so it beggars belief how this wasn’t spotted at the design and testing stages.
I did ponder the idea of using our pooch as a guinea pig to see whether these fears were unfounded. Strap her in, fling the car around a bend or two and see what happens. But apparently that’s classed as animal cruelty, so instead I decided to take SEAT’S advice. A recall is imminent to fix the issue, but as
evo went to press nothing official had been announced. I’d class this as something of a priority, wouldn’t you?
Before this happened the Ibiza and I had had a tiff. Nothing terminal, you understand. But what started out as a blossoming romance with furtive glances across a crowded work car park gradually turned into the warm-blooded Spaniard getting all mouthy.
Every time I got into the Ibiza, within a few minutes each press of the clutch pedal was met with a high-pitched squeak. Like a creaking door in a horror movie (and we all know nothing good ever comes of that). Then… nothing.
But just when you thought this uninvited
aural companion had gone away, it returned. Tormenting me. Not so annoying on a largely gearchange-free motorway cruise, but very much so when in town or enjoying a B-road.
When it first started, the weather had been particularly foul, so I assumed it must have been the wet soles on my shoes causing all that noise. I had therefore hoped the more recent drier weather would cure the problem, but no such luck. And it didn’t seem to matter what I had on my feet, either – trainers, shoes, Timberlands, reindeer slippers...
It wasn’t a mechanical squeak, and as the noise was there whatever I wore, I came to the conclusion that my shoes had been wrongly accused and that the guilty party was in fact the rubber cover on the clutch pedal.
Then one day I noticed it wasn’t squeaking anymore and harmony has now been restored to Anglo-spanish relations. It’s nice to be given the silent treatment, and just when I thought I might have to invest in better quality shoes…
Date acquired January 2018 Total mileage 7211 Mileage this month 1323 Costs this month £0 mpg this month 49.0