Front Spring Breakage........please lets have your story » Peugeot 406 forum » Peugeot Central

Posted: Sun 27 Apr, 2008 12:33 pm

[b]Written this as a quote on another post but to get maximum exposure i thought i'd post it fresh also.

Interesting you mentioning your broken spring , i had that happen too , came out to the car over 200 miles from home one morning and the osf spring had broken.....missed the abs wiring and tyre but ripped the cv gaiter........anyone else had this happen please post as it would be information for us all as to just how many break in this way ??..........from some ive spoken to its common also to the 306......no doubt other manufacturers also but knowing the amount going on the 406 would be a start...........peugeot should have come up with something for these cars as they have for the partner vans to stop what could be a life threatening situation so they obviously acknowledge a problem !!.........seemingly they mainly break stood still but how many might have been involved in accidents due to this ????........even fatals ?? easily possible given your tyre goes 99% of the time...
If you knew of a dangerous part failing on your car would you not change it , course you would..........but the spring is something you can't look at and say " oh yes , its on its way out , i'll replace it" and miles don't seem to be a guide either.
One blokes post on another site said he had suffered a number of failures , all on his drive luckily ,one was a fairly recent replacement !!! surely this problem deserves more examination and statistics !!!.......get writing.

Posted: Thu 18 Dec, 2008 8:31 am

I had 2 new springs fitted in Nov 2006; one was corroded , the other had broken. One of these new ones broke in Mar 2008, the other broke last night. Both breaks at very low speed and within 500 yards of leaving home. In each case the tyre was damaged.

Posted: Thu 18 Dec, 2008 11:30 am

Mine broke last week...on the drive....only noticed as I tried to reverse back. Only the spring had broken...no other damage caused and it wasnt too bad a job to fix...although it was raining and had to do it on the drive. The peugeot dealer said it would be better to replace both springs...and I will do the other side next month. Its a loveley car to drive...and only 47000 miles..just hope its not going to be a problem car.

Posted: Sat 20 Dec, 2008 3:29 pm

HELLO,THIS HAPPENED TO ME ABOUT 6 MONHS AGO.i was driving at about 30 mph,there was a large bang and servere juddering through the steering wheel.where the spring snapped it was razor sharp and it ripped the tyre and cv boot to bits.when i removed the spring to replace it ,it showed no signs of corision or wear,which was a bit of a shock.luckily it was early in the morning and the roads were quiet,if you were going around a corner and this happened you would propably loose control.not good.

Posted: Sat 20 Dec, 2008 5:20 pm

Just had my 407 MOTd and the tester had a good look at the front springs.He told me that spring failure is common these days due to speed bumps and low profile tyres.In olden days cars had softer long travel suspension, and high profile tyres absorb shocks rather than making the spring do all the work.Ball joints often fail early apparently for the same reason.

Posted: Thu 01 Jan, 2009 4:14 pm

]Thanks for your input so far lads , sorry this also means its cost you in the pocket !!!
Sometime ago i wrote direct to Peugeot regarding this problem and my angle was why supply a fix for the partner vans and not a high volume seller like the 406.........for me this is always in my mind now and shudder to think what could happen should one go driving,it does spoil a bloody good car.
Guess what.........yes,they have'nt even bothered to reply which to me could mean they don't want to get involved as they can't easily fob this off so please keep those reports coming in and if and when i do connect with someone their end i will use your reports as a lever to try and convice them a spring catcher is needed for the 406 as well as the partner.

Posted: Sun 11 Jan, 2009 7:59 pm

Had the NSF go on my 96 1.9 TD LX saloon last year July 08
It happened outside the garage whilst I was having some engine work done
Spring cost £65 and they did it for £50

Posted: Fri 23 Jan, 2009 2:28 pm

[b]Hello all

This is the reply from Puegeot regarding spring breakage , i feel some points made make the answer sound hollow and were only to be expected have a read below and see what you think ?

Thank you for your correspondence with our Front of House team and they have forwarded your enquiry to me for response.

Whilst I appreciate that it is completely understandable to compare incidents between models, from the manufacturer's position we assess vehicles on an individual model range. This is because although certain components may be similar other factors regarding weight distribution and engine size all have to be taken into consideration.

It is correct that on the Partner model range a recall was issued, as in countries where a large amount of salt may be used on the roads
during the winter, there was an increased risk of corrosion and it was necessary that a support cup to fitted to each front suspension spring. In the exceptional case of a spring breaking, this cup would help to prevent any risk of the spring coming into contact with the tyre.

As a responsible manufacturer we monitor the performance of our vehicles closely and during the life cycle of the 406 range no issues of spring failure was to the scale that any modification was required. All Peugeot dealers have a reporting system directly to Peugeot and if they feel that a safety issue with a vehicle needs to be rasied they proviode us with the relevant information. Based on these and our own testing we can then assess whether a particular model range has a common occurence.

Of course there will always be a number of incidents each of which would be assessed individually based on usage, age and mileage completed. As the 406 model range ceased production 5 years ago and there are no plans to modify the suspension .

I appreciate that in the rare event of a spring failure that there is potential for further consequential damage to surrounding components and I am not trying to explain this in a flippant tone and I am sure it would not be a pleasant experience for anyone besides the actual driver . But at the same time it could also argued that the fitting of an ABS system to all vehicles would greatly improve the safety of a vehicle more so and would assist in reducing the amount andseriousness of accidents. However, I am sure you can appreciate whilst on some vehicles it may be possible to fit retrospectively it would be commercially unviable.

I have spoken with our Technical department whether the cups fitted to the Partner range could be adapted to the 406 and they have advised me that we are unable to alter the specification of the 406 as this could cause further problems and thus we cannot recommend this.

Again, I accept the points you have raised and I am sorry that we cannot be of any assistance but thank you for taking the time in bringing your concerns to our attention.

Yours sincerely

Tim McCann
Customer Care Manager

Posted: Thu 26 Feb, 2009 3:53 pm

Hiya Guys and Girls,.......... i see this is an old topic now but thought i'd tell you my experiences with broken springs. One night i parked up my 1996 406 2.1TD estate (210,000 miles) after another perfect days drive. Next morning i started to drive the car and thought the brakes were binding until i saw smoke from the o/s wheel arch. Inspection revealed and broken spring, U/S new front tyre and punctured brake lines. Thankfully i was 1 mile from home and managed to limp it back. I had to have the car recovered to a Peugeot dealer and the whole fix+ some other minor things was £750!!!!!!!!!!! OUCH!!
Also in the past i have owned a Citroen C15 van (53 model), Drivers spring broke at 10mph on a roundabout, similiar damage. Then 2 weeks later the Passenger spring broke at 70MPH on the motorway!!!!!!!!!! I was lucky and it missed the tyre!!! Otherwise i do not think i would be typing this! Being both cars are French and use very similiar parts i wonder WHO makes these springs? Is there an underlying design/manufacturing process fault????

On a different note,......... today my 406 developed a problem and i would love some help if at all possible.
Whilst driving at any speed the car suddenly looses power,.... it feels as if the car is braking.Also when this happens the engine management light comes on. I read a posting earlier concerning this but it was not clear.
It mentioned revving the car to 200rpm and whilst revving, pressing the brake pedal. I tried this whilst stationary and every time the engine management light comes on and the car suddenly returns itself to idle. Is this normal??? Or does this indicate a problem with the ABS??? or something else? Any help would be gratefully recieved as i MUST use the car for a very long journey this coming Sunday.. Ta muchly!!! Rob.

Posted: Thu 26 Feb, 2009 4:09 pm

Your vehicle doesnt have any feeback from the brake pedal switch to the basic injection ECU.

I dont see it being related to the ABS.

I would 'guess' that its a fuel related issue.