fiesta suspension WARNING

[Shedchief]

Crikey! I've only owned a Fusion for a couple of days and now you've got me worried!

Actually, I'm not worried - or should I say that I'm no more worried than I'd be if I was driving any other car. You see, I'm well aware that other makes suffer from this problem too, and although "two wrongs don't make a right" I think this is a source of reassurance to me.

For instance, some years ago my VW camper needed two new front springs at a routine service in a non-franchised garage. They'd both snapped clean in half but miraculously hadn't affected the handling or (mercifully) caused punctures. I had noticed nothing untoward. The mechanics said it was metal fatigue and was "just one of those things" and that they had to replace springs more often than you would think possible. (It wasn't a cheap fix either. )

Call me Lucky if you will, but I also suffered a broken OSF spring on a Peugeot 306 too. :(

I hope that Storm and the others here get satisfaction from the garage, but I must say that I'm with Russ when he says that springs just break sometimes and this is not necessarily a manufacturing defect. I agree that quite a few Ford owners have reported this problem, but then so have owners of other makes.

There's a good discussion here (on Honest John's Technical forum) and I see one or two of our members have contributed to it.

I shall keep an eye on things, that's for sure, and thanks for this interesting discussion.

[Russ]

Quote..... "i called the AA out.it was very clear to them exactly what was wrong...the coiled tension spring on the suspension had split/broken,to quote "never seen one like that before"

I find that hard to believe as broken coil springs occur for various reasons and unless the AA guy was a "newbie" he would have seen a broken spring at some point in his time.......... I had a cavalier for 7 years (before the Fiesta i know have) and broke 3 sets of front springs in that time due to the atrocious state of our roads. It had nothing to do with faulty springs or workmanship.

[KatePocket]

Quote..... "i called the AA out.it was very clear to them exactly what was wrong...the coiled tension spring on the suspension had split/broken,to quote "never seen one like that before"

I find that hard to believe as broken coil springs occur for various reasons and unless the AA guy was a "newbie" he would have seen a broken spring at some point in his time.......... I had a cavalier for 7 years (before the Fiesta i know have) and broke 3 sets of front springs in that time due to the atrocious state of our roads. It had nothing to do with faulty springs or workmanship.

hmm...is this something which i should seriously worried about.....?

Mine is an 05 plate...it's done 43,000 miles though...which seems to be more than the people who posted in the first few pages of this thread....is this just much ado about nothing?

[oxfiesta]

Well, my car is now in my local garage awaiting repair. As usual they were very helpful ( NOT.!). Neither were Ford customer service. As other owners had reported i got the "its down to wear and tear" AND "The poor state off the roads excuse" It wasn't open to discussion as to if there might off been any other causes. The roads MAY have a part to play in regards to why they break. It does seem though however as quite an easy and convenient excuse for them to hide behind.

The roads around where i live aren't littered with pot holes. I have driven the majority off the miles 17,500 miles the car has cover, and it certainly hasn't been driven hard or abused. People on here might say that i would say that, but that is the case. I've covered very few miles since the start off the january 09. I've always made a point off driving around any pot holes i encounter as opposed to driving straight over them. Off course i realise parts wear out and don't last forever, however i just would off expected them to lasted longer than they have, i don't think that im being unreasonable to expect that. Maybe my luck just ran out.

At least i wasn't driving at the time the spring broke or i could off been facing an even larger repair bill, as the recovery man put it. I will wait to see if my springs are replaced to include the special zinc plate that others on here have mentioned in this topic.

[Sara Fiesta]

I'm worried about this now mine a January 07, I have just contacted my friend who is a ford technician, he has taken my registration number and is cheeking on the ford database he tells me that not many have passed through their garage with this problem but it is know.

[Air Hostess]

I'm worried about this now mine a January 07, I have just contacted my friend who is a ford technician, he has taken my registration number and is cheeking on the ford database he tells me that not many have passed through their garage with this problem but it is know.

Sara I have an 08 mk 6 and I took it in for a new power mirror and asked them to check my suspension at the same time.no prob they checked it all ok and no nasties either from the service staff,from what i can gather I dont think it covers our cars ,i think it was a bad batch on earlier models (02 to 05 year)

Kristal

[Sara Fiesta]

Thanks Kristal :)

[Drunknmunky]

Hi just joined today to give an account and a very real warning regarding fiesta suspension.let me make this quite clear this only affects certain fiesta's [maybe fusion's as well]those built in Cologne and shipped here not too sure on year as dealership would not divulge the info,enough to say that mine is an 06 model & apparently it affects fiestas before and just after that date.

my fiesta has only done 7824 miles,on monday 17/03/08 i returned to my car opened the door sat in the drivers seat and i was met with an almighty CRACK sound,similar to someone firing a gun at close proximity,REALLY LOUD.now bearing in mind it had only just been in for its second service at the main dealer i thought it best to check around the vehicle & under it....nothing un toward it seemed.so i started her up and went to move off...an almighty grinding noise made me swiftly stop.not being a car mechanic i called the AA out.it was very clear to them exactly what was wrong...the coiled tension spring on the suspension had split/broken,to quote "never seen one like that before".he really was quite aghast at how it had broken & the circumstances [being stationary].his actual words were "lucky you weren't driving at speed".

This brings me to Ford,having been carried in as the vehicle could not be towed whilst the AA were un hitching my car i went to the ford service desk.my first question was if the car was still under warranty for the suspension which i suspected it was.i was asked how old my fiesta was ,just on 2 years ,.mileage [7824].it was then that i explained to the service guy exactly what had happened and gave him my reg no.his answer somewhat filled me with despair quote " OH ! YEAH,I CAN SEE FORD KNOW THEY HAVE A PROBLEM WITH FIESTAS ....mumble mumble...AH THOSE BUILT IN COLOGNE...YOURS INCLUDED"

iT WAS THEN THAT I ASKED IF YOU KNOW ABOUT IT WHY ARE YOU NOT RECALLING THEM?his answer was Ford do not think it important enough to call them in.if there is a problem and the customer points this out they will replace both springs & ALSO FIT A SPECIAL ZINC PLATE.......HELLO IS THIS NOT IMPORTANT.as the AA guy pointed out to me quote " there is a lot of sensitve gear were this had broken & the piece that came off could have caused allsorts of problems, a blow out or jammed the brakes"and yet Fords don't think it important to have a recall.

i was informed by ford that my car would be fixed by wednesday [19 03 08] guess what it hasn't and why because they can't source the parts & this being a Ford main dealership.

PLEASE ANYONE WITH A FORD 05 AT LEAST TO EARLY 07 AT LEAST PLEASE GET YOUR CAR CHECKED OUT OR AT LEAST FIND OUT IF IT CAME FROM COLOGNE BEFORE SOMEBODY IS HURT OR WORSE

I have a 53 plate fiesta and the same thing happened to me 2 months ago, car was stationary from 5am saturday morning, didnt go to drive it til 6pm on the sunday evening and the car wouldnt move. RAC rescue had to get a flat bed lorry the following day and get it into a garage to get it fixed, garage blamed potholes plus general wear and tear in fiesta models, £160 and a few days later the car was free to go, not had any other problems again touch wood.

[DONFRAMAC]

Manufacturing defect? Says who? Coil springs do break, and break for different reasons! You can obviously prove it's a defect or are you just assuming it is because several owners on the forum have posted saying their springs have broken. If that's the case how many thousands of Fiesta owners, myself included have not had a spring break on them? Annoying it may be but unless you can prove it is a defect don't expect Ford to just "fix" your car. First step would be to get a hardness test done on the spring, then have it examined to see the 'crystal structure' of the material at the breakage, that will start to give an idea as to what has caused the spring to break.

No i don't work for Ford but i do have a metallurgists qualification so know a bit about various metals and their properties!

[DONFRAMAC]

As RUSS has a metallurgy qualification, he may well be aware of the use of zinc as a sacraficial anode on oil rigs, and anti-corrosion coating on buckets and wheel-barrows.

I am also similarly qualified, and as FORD are using these zinc parts, it is a clear admission that they recognise there is a corrosion problem. It is likely that road-salt is causing inter-granular corrosion in the windings of the springs.

It is common these days for springs to be plastic-coated.

[Russ]

As RUSS has a metallurgy qualification, he may well be aware of the use of zinc as a sacraficial anode on oil rigs, and anti-corrosion coating on buckets and wheel-barrows.

I am also similarly qualified, and as FORD are using these zinc parts, it is a clear admission that they recognise there is a corrosion problem. It is likely that road-salt is causing inter-granular corrosion in the windings of the springs.

It is common these days for springs to be plastic-coated.

Actually i'm in the aerospace industry so no idea about oil rigs!..............i have no idea how your springs are coated on your car but on my fiesta, my springs ARE plastic coated! and if Ford are zinc plating their springs then it's a new one on me. On any of the cars i`ve had to replace the springs on i've yet to see one that wasn't plastic coated! The posters complaint was his SPRING broke, not the 'cup' the spring sits in so it's the spring he is complaining about and not anything zinc plated! Ford replace the CUP because when the spring breaks it falls down past the cup because the coils are larger than the outer diameter of the cup. This NEW cup then will ( i assume it is larger than the "old" cup ) stop the spring falling down the damper and causing the spring to rub against the wheel ( i again assume ) causing the grinding noise he heard.

Rust by the way doesn't make springs break! If that was the case then many peoples cars would be falling to bits as soon as anything under the car had a surface coating of rust on it. ( check your rear drums )

With regards to a clear admission there is a corrosion problem, i don't see how it's an admission? Using zinc to plate the replacement CUP the SPRING sits in is to save Ford from painting the part after fitting it, nothing more. It saves them money!

My point was .... springs break for various reason, just because a spring breaks does not mean there is a problem with the manufacturing of them. This is a forum and normally the only people who use a forum do so because they have a problem so how many people in the Ford Fiesta forum? How many who have had broken springs? And finally....how many thousand Fiesta's have been sold which so far haven't had broken springs and their owners are happy bunnys?

Before you can claim there is a manufacturing problem and seeing as 'some' don't trust Fords word for it, why don't they pay to get a 2nd opinion and if there is a manufacturing problem claim it back from Ford. Having actual proof that there is a defect will get you further in the end.

[DONFRAMAC]

The additional zinc component protects the spring and any other steel parts, just by being electrically in contact with them. Salty road-spray then preferentially eats away the zinc, until it is all gone. On oil rigs, they help this action by applying a D.C. voltage to the lump of zinc dangling in the briney.

The SEAT IBIZA that my wife and I bought for our Son last year, had to have a new spring, + a bush, to pass the pre-sale MoT, and they would only do one side of the car. The service Manager muttered the phrase " in an ideal world", and I was given the option to back out of the deal, despite being legally committed to it. ( stung for £176 ).

[storm]

Well I took all the assurances from Ford that them repairing only the broken spring on one side was safe.

I have just tried to go out and have found that the spring on the other side has now snapped. This car has still only done 18,000 miles. I expect that they are still going to tell me that there is not a batch fault and that I have just been unlucky twice. I dont know if I can face all the hassle again but I will see what response I get from them next week.

Has anyone any further information that may come in usefull?

[oxfiesta]

Hi Storm,

Well as you can see from my pervious post i too have suffered the misfortune off one my springs braking on my 04 reg fiesta on 26 april 2009 at only 17,500, and very light use i might like to add. I do think there is more too this than ford are letting on. Like i said in my previous post it does seem quite an easy and convenient excuse for ford to hide behind and to JUST blame potholes and road humps. But without proof there's not much any off us unlucky fiesta/fusion owners can do. I got both sides off mine replaced at the same time, as i was worried about the other one braking at some point in the near future. I took a nasty hit off £300 for both sides to be replaced. But am glad i did after reading your post.

As yet i haven't had any luck with Fords Customer service, i was hoping to buy a New Fiesta in September but most likely will look else where as i have been really disappointed by Fords attitude to be perfectly honest. You would off thought in the present climate that customer loyalty would be important to them, but i guess not.!

Does anyone out there, have an address for Fords Customer service.! So i can put it all in writing.

[storm]

I am really disappointed. I thought it would have been sensible to repair both sides but Ford assured me there was no reason that the second side should go. I will try and find the e-mails etc that Ford sent me....reassuring me I didn't need to worry about the other side.

Here is one from the regional director of the Ford Dealership that I bought my Fiesta from;

As far as I can see this ins not a common problem, therefore there is no

reason to suppose that the other spring will go, and in these

circumstances Ford will not cover the replacement of another spring as a

precautionary measure, so I am afraid that we cannot do that unless you

agree to pay for it.

[Jonny87]

I am really disappointed. I thought it would have been sensible to repair both sides but Ford assured me there was no reason that the second side should go. I will try and find the e-mails etc that Ford sent me....reassuring me I didn't need to worry about the other side.

This is clearly a big problem. If you have a spare hour or two, photocopy everything, write a good letter and mail the whole lot to BBC Watchdog. Include a link to this discussion board on this forum as well so they can see that it a wide spread issue and so they can contact others affected.

From my point of view the more money you spend the better the service you should recieve. If a supermarket can replace a dodgy 50p tin of baked beans, then a car that cost 10000+% more should get service thats 10000+% more impressive. Seems in this case its very much the reverse.

Get Watchdog on the case. They wont be messed with. After all it is your license fee and this is an issue with potentially deadly consequenses.

[oxfiesta]

My car was unfortunately out off warranty so i had to pay for the repair. Storm i take it your car is under 3 years old? Ford said it was totally down to the customers choice in regards to repairing just one side or both, but recommend just the one side being repaired. I just decided get both sides repaired for peace off mind really, didn't like the idea off the other one snapping while driving at 60/70mph.

[storm]

My car was unfortunately out off warranty so i had to pay for the repair. Storm i take it your car is under 3 years old? Ford said it was totally down to the customers choice in regards to repairing just one side or both, but recommend just the one side being repaired. I just decided get both sides repaired for peace off mind really, didn't like the idea off the other one snapping while driving at 60/70mph.

I bought it December 05 (55 reg) so it is out of the 3 yr warranty now. When the first side went just over a year ago it was within the warranty.

Both times they have broken in the driveway.

[storm]

We got nowhere with Ford Customer service so decided to fix it ourselves. £45.00 for the spring and the cost of a Haynes manual.

[harveys]

Couldn't believe how many threads I found on the net re this issue. I searched because my mother in law's 2006, 16k miles 1.4 Zetec - suffered from a sudden spring failure, thankfully whilst sitting on her driveway!

Unfortunately it is now with a local 'tyre fitting company' - thanks to the RAC ! - it is just weeks out of warranty & just had an MOT/service at the local Arnold Clark dealership. I would have thought she'd have had a good case for a free repair (out of warranty or not) if it had gone there instead. More worrying is this issue of replacing both at the same time + the zinc plates.

I can't believe some of what I've read on here as regards why there was no recall - a damn disgrace & will make me think twice of having a Ford on any shortlist for a future car purchase ! We'd converted her out of Vauxhalls into the Ford - but I am sure she'll also think twice if she ever replaces it!

[harveys]

£180 to replace the broken spring & fit a new tyre, as it was damaged by the spring !

Do you think we should pursue Arnold Clark/Ford for some recompense/repairs to the other side? or are we wasting our time?

My mother in law has the damaged spring & has found out a friend had theirs go recently while driving at 40mph !

Would really appreciate your comments/advice on this guys.

[On3rdFiesta!]

Really sorry to hear about all your problems and I too share your concerns. My 06 Zetec's left spring gave way when slowing and turning into my drive. A few months later I went out to discover the right spring had broken (still wonder if force when left broke damaged the right). The car was very fortunately still under warranty but when I voiced my concerns I was told this only even happens when stationary or moving very slowly so not to worry - not sure how confident I feel after reading the post about travelling at 40mph. I bit the bullet and decided to get a new one so hoping for no repeats, even if still under warranty.

Ford should have recalled, as twice is too many times on a car around the 12k miles mark, never mind all you guys plus those it has happened to who don't even know about the forum. However, as an aside, I have work colleagues who have Peugeot and Vauxhall and this has happened to them too. They were told potholes to blame...

Just wanted to share and wish you all safe driving and every success with Ford.

[harveys]

I am going to get the spring tomorrow & go & visit the dealership later this week. I'll keep you posted on developments. I reckon this is a disgrace, especially for a company the size & experience of Ford !

[harveys]

I've now got the spring & I'm going to drop in past the dealer tomorrow or Monday with it. It has simply sheared & while there is surface corrosion on it, most of it has a paint/rubber coating. It simply looks like it's a faulty bit of material/casting...or whatever. It's incredible to think this item could fracture & fail...with potentially very serious consequences.

Am I being unreasonable expecting that the part should last past 20,000 miles, the car has a full Ford service History & was just serviced & MOT'd a few weeks ago. The fact it is out of warranty is my concern, that & the fact we have been advised that they should be replaced in pairs. so that'll be another 100-200 even outside of the Ford network

I've tried to attach some pics FYI but failed. I'd really appreciate some comments on this...or is this thread old hat now & dead????

If our pleas to Ford go the wrong was - they may be about to lose a few potential customers & repeats...but do they really care?

[harveys]

Well Ford have never replied - just about sums up the customer service you can expect if you deal with that lot ! If this wasn't a safety issue I don't know what is. Maybe we won't bother with that S-Max after all - I am sure there are plenty more companys out there that will value our business more.