Impressed by the offer of a five-year warranty, we bought, in October 2012, a new Hyundai ix35.

For no reason (good weather, no trees above) the sunroof spontaneously shattered. The noise was staggering, and I had glass raining down on me as I was driving at 30mph.

My local Hyundai dealer, where we bought the car, was confident a repair would be covered by the warranty. The following day, the warranty team refused the repair and, instead, quoted us £1,700 to fix the roof. I escalated the matter to Hyundai UK and it only offered £280 as a goodwill gesture.

Internet research reveals Hyundai has had past issues with shattering sunroofs in different markets, with some repaired under warranty and some refused – it seems to be the luck of the dealer. Am I being unreasonable?

JP, Tunbridge Wells

We don’t think you are being unreasonable at all, and this is yet another case of a car manufacturer failing to honour its warranty. You have told me the car was being driven on a quiet road with no other cars around, and not under anything. As you say, there are lots of other owners claiming that the same thing has happened to them – in each case, like you, they report a gunshot-like sound and the whole thing shatters.

In the US, Hyundai recalled 20,000 vehicles, and in 2015 was accused in a California federal court of doing nothing to protect or inform drivers of the possibility of panoramic sunroofs in certain models spontaneously shattering.

Despite this, Hyundai has again told us that it will not pay for your roof. In its response it laughably claimed that it has fully inspected the roof – even though it is in tiny shattered parts. “We have photographs of the roof, but as all the glass has fallen in, there was no opportunity to identify an actual impact point. However, this vehicle has been visually inspected by the dealership and it has confirmed no manufacturing defect could be found. We are satisfied that, as with other cases, this was caused by an object striking the roof whilst the vehicle was moving,” it said.

Clearly this sunroof is not fit for purpose. I would write to the dealer who sold you the car to say you will bring a claim in the small claims court under the terms of the Consumer Rights Act. This may prompt a reasonable solution. If it doesn’t, bring the claim.

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