Technical Front Spring BANG!!!

[skeeta]

Right, thats it. She's going!!!
After (slowly) going over a speed bump today I was almost given a heart attack by a bang that sounded like my lad had let off a shotgun next to me. I managed to limp home lopsidedly, took the left front wheel off and yeah, as expected, the coil spring had sprung its last bounce. Snapped completely in two.
I've had enough now. It's having that replaced (can't find a price online, anyone know how much it'll be?), the left rear swinging arm will be changed to stop the wheel rubbing on the arch and the anti roll bar will be de-clunked before I get shot of the little mare for good. If anyone wants to have a look at all my other posts on here you'll understand why. I need a car I can trust to get me where I need to go but every journey in the Multi is a lottery and I ain't a gambling man. I had misgivings about buying it in the first place but I needed six seats and room for two dogs and it seemed the best choice for that. Gonna get myself that nice Toyota I've seen for sale down the road
I had the springs changed two years ago under the recall too, does anyone think I have a claim there? Surely 2 years isn't a good life for a part of this importance. I dread to think what would have happened had I been doing 70mph down the A47
Grrrrr :bang::bang::bang::bang:

 

[Gary]

As they were replaced under the recall then surely Fiat have some blame for this ?

 

[rolo]

I'ts a b****r skeeta,have to say I feel just the same in my multi,you drive it expecting it to go wrong,no confidence in it at all,shame 'cos i'ts a truly great design.When the loans paid off next year mines going the same way as yours.

 

[skeeta]

Not sure Gary, I'll have to look into it. I suppose it depends on the guarantee of the spring. Salvaged ones have 6 months usually, not sure about new ones though, if indeed they used new ones

You're right Rolo. The design is fantastic. When it's been running it's done a superb job for me. I just don't fancy getting stuck on the back roads of Norfolk in winter with 4 kids in the car......again so it's TTFE to her

 

[Zundapp]

It's an unpleasant thing to happen at any time, but thank goodness it didn't happen at speed. It's probably too late to be sure of anything, but I wonder if the spring replacement work had actually been done.

My brakes failed, thankfully at low speed, because the handbrake cable abraded against the o/s rear brake pipe, causing the brake fluid to disappear. This had been subject to a FIAT safety recall and had been claimed by FIAT dealer, but they hadn't bothered doing it. Probably looked ok at the time....

I complained to FIAT, and the work was done by another FIAT dealer gratis, but what little confidence I had in FIAT's dealerships was blown away completely.

 

[GOOT]

Hi


Same thing to me,

Fiat 'changed my springs at recall, 2 years ago, had one snap last week ( while on the driveway !!). Car had only covered 15 k since. Fiat did not want to know, so a local guy ( AVANTI AUTO'S IPSWICH) changed the spring for £103 ... inc vat.

Next job is the bodged roll bar bush, then the engine fault .. then, etc ..etc ..etc

S

 

[mjb]

We had our front spring go not that long ago.... Our local National Tyre centre sorted it for us, £90 all in.

 

[T14086]

..had been claimed by FIAT dealer, but they hadn't bothered doing it.

I complained to FIAT, and the work was done by another FIAT dealer gratis

who was that?

 

[aeroadster]

Does anyone know whether the front springs and/or shocks of a Multipla are identical to any other car in the Fiat range?

Do these springs fail because they are too weak and can't stand up to the abuse from everyday driving, or is it a design flaw elsewhere that causes the spring to fail.

If it's the latter then there's a more fundamental problem to resolve.

If it's the former, my thinking is that I'm prepared to put a decent replacement set (not the sport version) by Bilstein or Eibach or anyone else doing a set.

I'll have a trawl around the tinterweb to see what's available.

 

[Zundapp]

who was that?

Neither the dealer who actually did the work nor the FIAT engineer would tell me, (said that info wasn't available on their system - but they could tell me the work had been claimed for), however the car had come from the Preston/Blackpool area.

 

[T14086]

ahhh see what you mean, yep they could check the warranty side,also if it was part of same dealership chain they could trace the garage so I assume in this case it wasn't.

 

[Zundapp]

Does anyone know whether the front springs and/or shocks of a Multipla are identical to any other car in the Fiat range?

Do these springs fail because they are too weak and can't stand up to the abuse from everyday driving, or is it a design flaw elsewhere that causes the spring to fail.

If it's the latter then there's a more fundamental problem to resolve.

If it's the former, my thinking is that I'm prepared to put a decent replacement set (not the sport version) by Bilstein or Eibach or anyone else doing a set.

I'll have a trawl around the tinterweb to see what's available.

The reason quoted is that the springs only go in countries/areas where a lot of salt is used on the roads in winter, thus causing corrosion to take place beneath the protective coating on the springs.

However, another different reason is that the springs are all European made and manufactured in a cheaper fashion than before in that they aren't tapered at the ends. Apparently this tapering prevents stresses building up to a critical point where the coil breaks.

FIAT aren't alone in having this problem, it's widespread in European made springs with this type of design, and a number of other car manufacturers have also had safety recalls for exactly the same thing. (My daughter's Citroen C3's front springs both went bang at the same time while parked in the driveway).

Japanese cars don't suffer from this problem.....

 

[T14086]

the rav 4 suffered badly from broken springs so did mazda 3 (I think it was that model, was a recall on them) but interesting point about the 'taper' never thought about that

 

[Zundapp]

the rav 4 suffered badly from broken springs so did mazda 3 (I think it was that model, was a recall on them) but interesting point about the 'taper' never thought about that

Mazda 3 I think shares the same platform as the Focus and a couple of Volvos, so maybe shares the European springs? Dunno though.

The Rav 4 is built in a number of places including Canada and the US as well as Japan, but I'm not aware of suspension issues in those markets. Maybe it's the speed humps over here!

'Most' Oriental cars have the tapered or flattened springs and have a much lower suspension recall rate.

Just as an aside, should your front spring break while driving, there is a real danger that the broken part of the spring may jump to the side and penetrate the tyre wall with obvious consequences. This is the main reason for the safety recall. Some other manufacturers fit a 'cup' around part of the spring to hold it in place should the replacement spring subsequently break. FIAT don't, so check them regularly - don't leave it till MoT time.

 

[aeroadster]

Being slightly cynical, it sounds to me like it's a poor choice in grade of material for springs.

I've replaced springs on many cars over the years and bought at least four different sets for my Saab in the last year.

Many of the cars I've had (Vdubs/Saabs) are/were well over 10years old and they never had a problem with springs like this.

I'm not sure what this tapering is about though.

Depending on how the springs are seated springs are usually designed with ends that sit into the cup of a damper, so the spring doesn't compress and bend on it's own end edge, and/or have a progressive spring rate and towards the end the coils spiral inwards onto (for example) the strut mount.

Out of all the manufacturers who offer alternative springs for the Multipla, I can only have faith in Eibach. Fair enough, it will lower the car by 30mm at the front and rear and I'll probably have to find a set of matching dampers, but at least I'll be safe in knowing they won't snap.

The handling will probably improve too and hopefully not to the point whereby the ride becomes too harsh like some of their more sports oriented "sportline" kits do.

 

[Hellcat]

Does the Multipla use a modified Marea/Bravo style setup?

 

[aeroadster]

I've no idea, I don't have a Fiat EPC to check and I haven't done enough research into the replacements parts area to know.

Hopefully, someone here might have an EPC and can check.

If not, I'll try to find out.

 

[Zundapp]

Depressing though, that you have to consider aftermarket springs to resolve an issue that should never have happened in the first place.

FIAT say that the replacement springs have a different coating applied to them, making a recurrence of the problem less likely. So that's all right then. Except we know that the replacements do break, just like the originals.

Commonsense - or failing that, the Government - should tell manufacturers (and not just FIAT) that if a part fails due to flawed design/unsuitability/cheapness then the replacement part should not be fundamentally the same item as the original.

Hey-ho.

 

[brigbeale]

Ford Ka's are known for front springs breaking. I've had it on 2 that I've owned and that's a relatively light car compared to the Multipla