Rear Coil Spring Failure

[WhiteSable]

Left Rear Coil Spring slipped/jumped out of lower holding cup. Has anyone had this problem? Please let me know your experiences and what fix you applied. The spring itself seems to be OK but about one turn of the coil is now below the lower retainer AND THE SHARP END OF THE SPRING IS CUTTING A NEAT GROOVE IN THE SIDEWALL OF THE TIRE like a lathe!

SYMPTOMS (other than catastrophic failure of the tire!): You may hear a slight scraping noise - sounds a little like the brake shoe is dragging but it is unaffected by applying the brake.

Needless to say I removed the tire (fortunately before it blew) - using donut spare now (as it clears the end of the spring). Will take to dealer for inspection and HOPEFULLY some repair assistance from Ford Motor Co. as this is a serious safety hazard (DUH!) and the sort of failure that just shouldn't happen in a 5 year old vehicle with 35,500 miles.

Would welcome comments and suggestions - particularly any help you may have received from Ford motor Co with the repair bill. And no, I didn't hit anything large (or deep) prior to this happening! There was no obviously observable cause for the failure.

[scottjma]

Hi WhiteSable.....

The EXACT same thing happened to my 2001 Sable tonight. How did you make out with Ford Motor Co. paying for the repair ?

... Mark

[chs249kid]

Have you logged a complaint with NHTSA? Apparently there is a federal investigation on-going. www.nhsta.dot.gov

Originally Posted by WhiteSable

Left Rear Coil Spring slipped/jumped out of lower holding cup. Has anyone had this problem? Please let me know your experiences and what fix you applied. The spring itself seems to be OK but about one turn of the coil is now below the lower retainer AND THE SHARP END OF THE SPRING IS CUTTING A NEAT GROOVE IN THE SIDEWALL OF THE TIRE like a lathe!

SYMPTOMS (other than catastrophic failure of the tire!): You may hear a slight scraping noise - sounds a little like the brake shoe is dragging but it is unaffected by applying the brake.

Needless to say I removed the tire (fortunately before it blew) - using donut spare now (as it clears the end of the spring). Will take to dealer for inspection and HOPEFULLY some repair assistance from Ford Motor Co. as this is a serious safety hazard (DUH!) and the sort of failure that just shouldn't happen in a 5 year old vehicle with 35,500 miles.

Would welcome comments and suggestions - particularly any help you may have received from Ford motor Co with the repair bill. And no, I didn't hit anything large (or deep) prior to this happening! There was no obviously observable cause for the failure.

[bobossman]

My 2001 with 113k had exactly the same problem. Both coils broke, and this car hasn't seen a lot of salt. The fronts are covered under safety related recall to 10 years or 150k miles; if broken Ford will replace free. This is the same problem, but no recall.