Under suspension

I have owned a 2003 Vectra from new. All of the springs front and rear have failed in the last two years not to mention the shock absorbers. It is obvious that inferior materials have been used to save cost on what is quite an expensive car. I have been lucky that I experienced no failure at speed, which could be fatal on say the motorway at 70mph. The car has been serviced in accordance with the manufacturers recommendations and used for most of the time with driver only on good roads. I have owned and used company cars over forty years and never experienced suspension failures of any type whatsoever. If we were talking about an aircraft the manufacturer would be forced to correct what is potentially a lethal error. I will never buy, hire or recommend a Vauxhall car. GM deserves to go bust.

Asked on 13 June 2009 by

Answered by Honest John
Don’t hold back there, will you? Spring failures are common on ALL European makes and models of cars. The worst offenders seem to be Ford Fiestas, followed by everything else, including VWs, BMWs and Mercedes. Part of the reason is the cheap way the springs are made and supported, part is salting of UK roads in winter, but the main reason is the plethora of potholes, speed cushions and speed humps. If proper research were ever done into the causes of high-speed death crashes, many tyre and suspension failures would be put down to damage by potholes, speed cushions and speed humps. I estimate these idiotic ‘road safety measures’ result in the deaths of 200-500 people a year.
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