Boxy, a few years back I had a ford Escort, the car was well out of warranty, one of the rear shockers failed that meant 2 had to be replaced ( as they do replace these units in pairs) the car had done about 30000, I contacted Ford UK H.Q. with the a VAT Reg Garage receipt explained that these units should have lasted longer that 30000, I also sent them the Shockers ID Number for their reference, they paid the cost of the repair, I'm sure if Borobird contacted the makers of the car and explained the problem, they would look into the cause of the Cylinder failure & compensate.