I bought a nine-month old Vauxhall Vectra 2.2 litre automatic (mileage 10,000) in September 2004 from main Vauxhall dealer. In January of this year, still at only 37,000 miles, the car broke down. The cause was described as “water contamination of the automatic transmission.” The Vauxhall dealer advised me that it would cost £3,822 to repair the damage by installing a new automatic box and new radiator. I turned to a specialist auto transmission company that fitted a reconditioned box and cooling system for less than £2,000. This repairer was of the opinion that the damage was due to a 'design fault' as their company had repaired a number of Vauxhall Vectras that had suffered the same damage. This opinion appears to be supported by a number of other instances of contaminated gearboxes reported on the www.vectra-c.com/forum . I wrote to General Motors UK advising them of what had occurred supplying several examples of gearbox failure culled from the above mentioned website and asked for a contribution towards my repair cost. GM felt unable to do so, simply referring to the 3 year/60,000 miles warranty limits. They offered no comment at all on the question of 'design faults'. I wondered if you had come across this issue before.