Broken coil spring at 53,000 miles?

[BillK01]

This past Friday the driver's side front coil spring on my wife's 2008 Toyota Sienna broke. We had just put new Bridgestone Blizzak tires on it the Sunday before (to the tune of $644) and thankfully when it broke the broken piece fell into the pocket that holds the spring and didn't fall out and shred the brand new tire.

It wasn't a terribly expensive fix - only $256 total - but am I crazy in thinking it breaking at 53,000 miles is crazy? Both her van and my F150 are kept in a heated garage - it's not like they sit out in the bitter cold.

I've owned dozens of vehicles over the years and never once had a broken coil spring - and most had a lot more than 53,000 miles on them.

Anyone else have a coil spring break so early on? Thanks.

 

[kwselke]

I have speed humps in my neighborhood that play hell on my shocks, but never had an issue with springs. Was it covered by warranty? If not, I'd complain to Toyota and copy the National Highway Safety Administration. About NHTSA | National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) That"s how recalls come about.

 

[snowman]

I have speed humps in my neighborhood that play hell on my shocks, but never had an issue with springs. Was it covered by warranty? If not, I'd complain to Toyota and copy the National Highway Safety Administration. About NHTSA | National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) That how recalls come about.

I would do the same; I've never heard of a coil spring breaking on a vehicle.

Andy

 

[Comrad]

Here's an interesting explanation.
Coil spring failures | AA

 

[BillK01]

Thanks guys. I thought I wasn't crazy.

I did email Toyota - but never thought to CC NHTSA - I might do that now.

Take care.

 

[Harrison]

Coil spring or front strut? Some struts come with their own coils and are not designed to last forever. They get replaced every 50K-75K.

 

[BillK01]

Coil spring or front strut? Some struts come with their own coils and are not designed to last forever. They get replaced every 50K-75K.

Coil spring only. $100.76 part and $156 labor. It just snapped in two.

 

[rwsmith]

Not springs.....

Never had a spring failure but I've had other expensive parts fail prematurely just after the warranty expired. I think for $265 you came out really good because I can't get away from a car shop for less than $500.

I think the worst was a transmission that went out about the same time yours did and it cost me several thousand to get it rebuilt (supposedly by the best transmission people in town). When it broke again a few thousand miles later I gave the car away to the Kidney Foundation.

 

[Nico Testosteros]

I've run some cars into the ground but have never had a spring break.

Which means it'll probably happen tomorrow.

 

[LVSteve]

I've seen it before in the UK. Sometimes the causes were obvious (rally cars) while others were just "one of those things". I would guess that a spring can occasionally be made with a bad batch of metal just like anything else. FWIW GM had a bunch of torsion bars go flaky on Tahoes and maybe Suburbans in the early 2000s. It's not a perfect world, sadly.

 

[bobelk99]

Coil spring only. $100.76 part and $156 labor. It just snapped in two.

Doubtless a manufacturing defect. Tellum.

 

[BigBill]

Little by little the Japanese cars are beginning to be like our cars once were. The pressures of mass producing will affect them someday soon in quality too. It's started already.

I love my Japanese cars they been the best cars we as a family have ever owned but so have my 4x4 jeeps too.

 

[blackdeuce]

Our 2004 Sienna is pushing 200,000 miles and we haven't had any issues with coil springs. It's been in the shop for other reasons, but overall it has been very reliable.

 

[CBus660R]

Both her van and my F150 are kept in a heated garage - it's not like they sit out in the bitter cold.

I wouldn't be surprised if this is a contributing factor. Drive it in snow and salt then park it in the warm garage where conditions are more favorable for corrosion to set in. The primary issue was probably a defect in the spring, either the base material was flawed or the protective coating failed prematurely. If you lived further south and didn't need snow tires for the winter conditions, I bet the spring would still be ok. Did the shop inspect the ends to determine the failure? If the was a small flaw that allowed some corrosion to occur, you'd see some rust at the crack and not smooth, shiny metal from edge to edge at the break site.

 

[BillK01]

I wouldn't be surprised if this is a contributing factor. Drive it in snow and salt then park it in the warm garage where conditions are more favorable for corrosion to set in. The primary issue was probably a defect in the spring, either the base material was flawed or the protective coating failed prematurely. If you lived further south and didn't need snow tires for the winter conditions, I bet the spring would still be ok. Did the shop inspect the ends to determine the failure? If the was a small flaw that allowed some corrosion to occur, you'd see some rust at the crack and not smooth, shiny metal from edge to edge at the break site.

Yea - I looked at the broken piece and there was nothing at all on it - looked practically brand new (after wiping the dirt off it). The break was spotless - just bare metal on the actual break - not a spec of rust or corrosion anywhere.

 

[NYlakesider]

Well last year my son had a rear LEAF spring break on his Tundra 4x4. We got lucky and spotted it before it pivoted more and took out the tire and could have also made a very fast out of control let turn occur. Wired it in place and the next morning he brought it to the Toyota dealer he bought it from for service.

Now understand this truck was not abused, never carried heavy loads and only pulled a small jet ski trailer a few times in the summer.

He had an x warranty on the truck but service said SPRINGS WERE NOT COVERED. I did at that point look at his warranty book and mine and it was not listed as a covered part (needless to say I never heard of springs on a non commercial used truck not covered). Went back to the dealer and had a nice chat with management and as they realized they were going to lose not only my son as a customer but his wife, me and my wife, his best friend and his father,mother that they made a few phone call while we waited..

All of us had Toyotas, mostly top of the line vehicles all from that dealership and they understood our continuing as being customers was at stake Toyota agreed to change out both rear springs as they wanted the old ones back to run some tests. They gave him a loaner Tundra 4x4 for the week it took for the springs to come in. Since then I heard from a few other people about problems with some Toyota springs!

 

[Zipdog]

Toyota has been cheapening up their vehicles for 9 years now. They made a public announcement about it back then. You could have replaced that spring for less than $50.00 if you took the time.

 

[BillK01]

Just a quick update - Toyota emailed me back to get a copy of the work order etc - so they may end up working with me on it. We'll see.

And other than changing the oil & filter/rotating tires I'm not one to be doing any major vehicle repair work - including changing out coil springs. I don't have a spring compressor and don't want to have to learn how to use one. We need 2 vehicles and couldn't be waiting around for me to learn how to do it and deal with it over the weekend.

 

[imashooter2]

Manufacturing defect. It had a stress riser in it somewhere.

 

[Zipdog]

You can get them out without a spring compressor. Knew a guy who did that. Came time to put the new one in, he took the spring to a shop to get it compressed. They tied it up with coat hanger wire while compressed. On the way home it let loose in his trunk. Tore things up a bit.