Jodi Adam thought she'd either been shot at or her car had been hit by a hurled rock just after 8am on Monday, March 5. She was driving along the N2 in her Corsa Lite when she suddenly heard a huge explosion.

Without fail, every one of the other victims of this phenomenon who has since come forward has told me they reacted in the same way when their "backlite", as they are known in the industry, exploded.

Two weeks later I was still waiting for an answer to my question: "Is it true that there is a defect with 2006 Corsa Lite's rear windscreens - a tendency to shatter - and if so, what does GMSA intend to do about it?"

I now have details of at least 14 cases from across the country. All were either 2005 or 2006 Corsa Lite models and, in most cases, the rear de-misters were in use at the time, or had been in use minutes before the glass shattered.

Some simply referred them to a glass fitment centre, where they were made to pay an insurance excess of several hundred rand, while others arranged for the "backlite" to be replaced at no charge.

Some, such as Joey Nkgapele of Ermelo and Jolene Schefermann of Cape Town, didn't think to approach their dealerships. They went straight to a glass fitment centre and paid the insurance excess.

When Imtiaz Khaki's backlite shattered on March 26, PG Glass in Durban told him they dealt with about five Corsa Lites a week with shattered back windows.

And in February, when Jolene Marriah called several KZN window tinting companies for a quote, all said they would not treat the "back window" of her 2006 Corsa Lite "because they shatter". A week later, on February 21, hers did.

The key players in this story are GMSA, and the PG Group, which supplies the original backlites to GMSA, which manufactures the Corsa Lites at its Port Elizabeth plant.

"We suspect that this is related to the electric current running through the demisters and we are working on identifying the exact cause," he said.

When the backlite of Adir Deokaran, of Randburg, shattered last month, he was told by Barloworld in Commissioner Street to have it replaced and then submit a claim to GMSA. But later the dealership said that because Adir had had his glass tinted, he would have to bear full responsibility.

Graham Sessions had the shattering experience while driving a hired car in Port Elizabeth in mid-March. Initially, Dollar Thrifty Car Rentals asked him to pay a R250 insurance excess, but he refused, and sent the company a copy of my report.

"The branch manager told me that three of their Corsa Lite rear windscreens had shattered in the past two years," Graham says, "and that each time they reported this to the local General Motors dealer, they were assured there was no factory fault."

But on March 30 - two days after the publishing of the report - the dealership's service manager told Dollar Thrifty Car Rentals that, had proper protocol been followed earlier, "there would have probably been no costs for your account" and invited the car hire company to call GMSA's customer care toll free line - 0800-422-777.

GMSA's after-sales director, Doug Harrison, said GM had became aware of the problem in 2006 through "a spike" in Corsa Lite glass warranty claims and had been "working… to resolve the matter".

In cases where a fault could jeopardise the owner's safety, all manufacturers would "report the matter in the news meida, and on a one-to-one basis", he said. But this potential flaw would not fall into the safety threat category.

Still, many would like to know why the company has not contacted owners of late-model Corsa Lites, warning them what could happen, and advising them of what to do when it does. And why haven't dealerships, glass-fitting centres and car rental companies been issued with directives regarding warranty claims?

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