The St. Petersburg Kirovsky District Court assessed the issue of a muffler rattle described as occurring when the vehicle is cold at a value of 9 million rubles, according to the joint press service of the city courts.
The case concerns a girl born in September 2016 at Rolf Estate in St. Petersburg. A Hyundai Creta was purchased for 1.2 million rubles. In August 2021, while still under warranty and with about 98,000 kilometers on the odometer, the owner reported a problem to the dealer: the muffler rattled when cold and a warning light on the dashboard illuminated.
The car was brought to an authorized Hyundai service center for diagnosis and repair, yet no repair work was completed by the deadline set for addressing the deficiencies in October 2021.
The owner submitted a request for remedy, which was denied, prompting a legal filing. The court ultimately recognized the defect as a manufacturing defect, unless the seller, an authorized organization, or the importer could provide evidence to the contrary.
The press service noted that presenting the vehicle for repair to a non-defendant party does not carry legal significance, as it does not release the manufacturer from the legal consequences tied to restoring consumer rights violations, as previously stated.
From the defendant, Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Rus LLC, the court ordered compensation that covered the cost of the Creta at 1.2 million rubles, reflecting the difference between the price in the sales contract and the vehicle price at the time of the decision. The judgment also included penalties and non-pecuniary damages, bringing the total to roughly 9 million rubles.
Earlier reports noted a resident of Kaluga who faced trial after the city awarded compensation for a vehicle damaged by a fallen tree, illustrating the broad range of consumer-vehicle disputes handled by courts across Russia [citation].