Broken coil spring

[KCsXC]

Yesterday backing out of my driveway the drivers side coil spring on the strut broke and jammed into my tire. I am concerned but happy that it broke in my driveway, I do not want to think may have happened if I was on the highway.


The car is no longer on warranty and I am expecting a large bill because I will need to buy four new tires as well so I do not ruin the transmission.

My car has never been abused (city/highway car) Has anybody else broken a coil spring?

[Ben Carufel]

I have never, ever, heard of a coil spring breaking; that might be something you would want to talk to Volvo about. Coil springs don't exactly have a "replace at 100,000 miles" advisory like the timing belts do...I imagine if they were designed to be replaced at a certain mileage you would definitely know about it. Volvo would have serious legal trouble if everyone's coil springs started breaking on the freeway!

I would most definitely talk to your dealership or Volvo North America as soon as possible. This is one repair I'd expect them to pick up the tab for (and tires, too, if they are necessary).

[KCsXC]

Thanks for your advice. I will e-mail VOLVO Canada once I know what the damage is. I also plan on keeping the parts I need replaced in case I need proof.

Casey

[Prepo]

I agree. It would be unfair if you had to pay for the spring and tires as well. I did have such a spring fail on an Acura Legend but the spring did not collapse and jam the tire. I would have expected the suspension to sag but with the broken spring, being concentric with the strut, to stay reasonably in position and not be forced into the tire. It must have been catastrophic which seems unusual especially when you were hardly moving, not that I am a suspension expert. Mind you, if Volvo does show pity, they probably will only "spring" for prorated replacement of OEM cost tires. I hope you have success with Volvo.

[RedXC]

A defective coil spring might break. That's the first time hearing a coil spring break. Volvo should replace the tires and coil spring at no charge. It is sort of like a safety issue. But the coil spring broke on the driveway, don't know what Volvo will think like if you were working on the car causing it to break or some stupid ideas.

[KCsXC]

Well the damage is in, $1473.60 CND. This only includes the springs and tires. My struts and mounts were still OK. Upon investigation the coil spring has very clear area of corrosion. I suspect that this has been slowly corroding for some time and sheared apart when the force of the spring out weighed the strength uncoiled and the sharp end stuck into the front tire.. I know a few people with metallurgical backgrounds which will be consulted to confirm the mode of failure. I plan on e-mailing VOLVO with this information and we will see what happens.

[KCsXC]

Well the verdict is in. Volvo Canada checked and found no recall on the front springs and given the car is not under warranty they will not cover the repair. They told me to keep my bill and if a recall is done in the future I could be reimbursed.

I must say that this is the response I thought I would get, however I really hoped that I would have been wrong.

When I first bought my XC you could not wipe the smile of my face. The issues I had early on with door locks and minor oil leak did not discourage me much but what has is the level of service from my dealer as well as Volvo Canada. It is like pulling teeth with either of them. I guess I expected too much from Volvo, or maybe what I thought a 55000 dollar car should be. I have thought about trading in only to find out that it is worth less than half of the original price in just shy of 4 years.

For all who are looking into buying a new Volvo please think twice. I will keep mine for a few more years and put whatever more repairs into it because it is not worth anything to trade in. All this being said I will never buy another new Volvo. I would consider buying a 3-4 year old one because even if you put a new 5000 dollar transmission in every year your are still ahead of the depreciation.

[alexwill]

I read with great interest KC's post and the replies of others. I returned home yesterday from a 6 week winter holiday and started my 2001 V70 XC. As I backed out of my indoor parking space, I was startled to hear a loud knocking, grinding sound as I began steering. I immediately returned to my space and called my garage. I deal with a local garage that services all types of vehicles but has a special knowledge of Volvos. The owner ,Chris, who has serviced my car since the warranty expired, is a great guy and agreed to drop by on his way home from work. He quickly discovered that the drivers side coil spring had collapsed. Fortunately, my tire was not damaged. He's going to look for replacement springs and wll get back to me tomorrow. In the meantime ,I was searching for information on the Web and came across your excellent forum and KC's post. I was disappointed that KC received no support from Volvo Canada but am going to try to approach them myself. As one of you said, a coil spring is not designed to be replaced at certain mileage intervals. Under normal circumstances, shouldn't it last the life of the vehicle? My XC has less than 100,000 kilometers (60,000 miles) and has been well cared for. There's an important safety issue involved here and Volvo which prides itself on its high safety standards should, hopefully, take notice. I'll keep you posted and would be happy to receive any advice or comments you can offer.

[Ted in Toronto]

I think it's interesting that the two coil spring failures occurred in Canada and appear to be corrosion related failures. Sounds like Volvo may have an issue with winter salt on roads attacking poorly protected springs.
I'm glad I have only a four year lease on my XC70 because I would not want to be paying Volvo parts pricing and dealing with Volvo on these kinds of failures.

[KCsXC]

I am sorry to hear about another spring failure and yet some what happy becasue the more the problem shows the odds are higher that VOLVO will do something about it. I gave the failed parts to a friend of mine which teaches at a local college. The corrosion guy there is looking into it however the first thing he noticed was that around the area that failed the protective paint finish on the spring was missing a few inches on either side of the failure point. The actual failure was a small ingress of rust which finally reduced the cross section and the spring failed. I find interesting the fact that yours was also the front drivers side that failed. Many things happen to vehicles as the are assembled and it might just be during the installation that something scratched the springs coating and started the corrosion process. I am going to once again contact VOLVO with this information of another spring failure and we will see what happens.

I will keep you updated with my findings.

Casey.