This paper deals with an audible disturbance known as automotive clutch squeal noise from the viewpoint of friction-induced mode coupling instability. Firstly, an auto-coupling model is presented showing a non-conservative circulatory effect originating from friction forces. Secondly, the stability of an equilibrium is investigated by determining the eigenvalues of the system linearized equations. The effects of the circulatory and gyroscopic actions are examined analytically and numerically to determine their influence on the stability region. Separate and combined effects are analysed with and without structural damping and important information is obtained on the role of each parameter and their interactions regarding overall stability. Not only is structural damping shown to be of primary importance, as reported in many previous works, this article also highlights a particular relationship with gyroscopic effects. A method of optimizing both the stability range and its robustness with respect to uncertainty on system parameters is discussed after which practical design recommendations are given.