I have a 55 plate Fiesta Zetec S 1.6 TDCi, with 23K on the clock, I have owned the vehicle from new and drive like a vicar.

The front offside coil spring snapped whilst it was parked in my garage.

I took the trouble of removing the wheel and took pictures which I forwarded to Ford customer services and my local Ford s******.

Ford customer service could not offer any financial assistance as the vehicle was out of warranty, they did log my complaint and gave me a case number. Apparently they will use my pictures for future reference. I would urge everyone to report the problem to ford as they are either not aware or just not interested.

My local Ford s****** advised me to have it recovered to them at which point they would carry out a FREE 15 minute initial assesment. I don't have home start on my breakdown cover so advised them to shove it, in the politest way possible of course!

I forwarded the pictures to BBC Watchdog, I've not had a reply yet, but I would advise all others with this problem to do the same. I can't help thinking about what could have happened had I been on the road at the time...

My local garage recovered the vehicle for £40+vat

Springs were £87.27+vat for the pair, diesel ones are bigger and more expensive. I was told that for a Fiesta petrol they were around the £75 + vat mark for a pair.

Labour was £80+vat to fit both springs, giving me a grand total of £248.72 inclusive of vat.

Painful, but I think it could of been so much more expensive had I gone to Ford. For what it's worth my garage say they are doing more and more front coil spring replacements on all makes of cars.

The problem really needs addressing as I can only see our roads geting worse.

Thanks for the reminder Ethan,

I forgot to mention that Ford customer service did admit that there has been a modification to the front coil spring assembly. Like other manufacturers they now insert a zinc plate between the spring and the spring cup, I was told this was in order to prevent the onset of corrosion. I carried out all my correspondence in writing, Ford only ever replied by telephoning me so I don't have that in writing I'm afraid.

Regarding 'upper lower ruritania' Ethan... It's probably got oil coming out of every orifice!

Have you seen the roads in Libya? Like a magic carpet compared to the roads in my town!

Hi stevie,

You wrote that when your spring broke it had to be replaced. Did the garage only replace the broken spring or both of them?

I suppose we should look on the bright side, nothing else to do really.

This has happened to some poor people whilst travelling on the motorway at speed, to compound matters the spring has then shredded the tyre and severed the brake pipes...

all the best with the repair, craig

I've just seen this as I googled it, as both springs have gone on my 03 Finnese with no warning. I cleared the snow off a couple of weeks ago, drove up the road, turned the car around and parked back up outside my house ready for the next morning. The next morning I got in to go to work and heard a terrible clunking noise so I went round the block and parked back up. Later I noticed the whole front has dropped.

I tried to limp it 2 miles to the garage but it sounded so bad i didn't risk it.

The garage recovered it for me yesterday and he said its weird both springs have gone and there could be more problems as when he jacked it up the wheels didn't drop down. He is going to ring back tomorrow.

Can i assume that if the springs are replaced they will be the ones with the zinc plate things now as standard?

I'll see what he says then maybe speak to Ford about it as it looks like it's going to cost £200+ to fix, especially as I may need two tyres....

ive got a 2006 diesel - just tried to drive off my drive and snap-front right side is collapsed close to front tyre. I am assuming its a broken/sheared front coil spring? Unable to drive car-sounds horrendous. initially as the wheel slowly turned i thought i had large stone stuck in pads, then realised it was much louder and grindier, wheel difficult to turn. rolled back down drive (even more nasty grinding) 50k fsh one owner, no advisories or clues this would happen. Thank god i wasnt going at speed.

surely if Ford, have known about this and modded the spring since, it becomes a recall issue as there is a risk of death/serious accident as this happens with no warning and is more common than they admit to (openly).

Ill confirm the fault here later.

It's common with every car, just look at HJs MOT breakdown.

This exact thing happened to me this morning. I parked my 55 plate 5Dr zetec up last night no problems...reversed out my parking space this morning, into 1st to drive off and bang-front NS end dropped and car stopped so abruptly on a slight downward slope I clonked my forehead on the steering wheel.

Under warranty as a used car with 1 month left I was asked if I'd hit any large potholes-No. Then it was suggested the cold weather may have effected the coil metal-No it's been mild but wet for time of year. They are taking a look Monday I'll be sure to mention the zinc plate from a previous post as the car is with Ford. I'll keep you posted :-(

The front springs on my 05 fiesta have went for the 3rd time now! The front passengr side has went twice now in 18months...nothing more annoying cause it is not drivable so difficult to get it to a garage! Luckily all 3 times the car has been stationary! The last 2 times the springs have went in the cold of winter...maybe thats a factor but if this was to happen at speed...well i dread to think about the outcome!

My 05 plate (22k miles to date) 1.4lt Fiesta's springs have both "gone the journey" while JUST moving from standing. One at 10k and one at 17k miles. Garage said they 'attended to' 3 or 4 a week!! I still have the horrors thinking about what if it happened at 70mph on a crowded motorway. If this has been going on since '08 why's it still happening?

Yes, it's a very common problem, I'm very sorry to have to say.

You don't have to have both sides done "for balance", you can just replace the broken spring. However, since it's almost certainly only a matter of time before the other one breaks, it's probably a good idea to change both.

One spring on my Mondeo broke and my garage told me that I only need to have the broken one changed, when I asked them about this. However, a couple of years later, the other spring broke, so I might just as well have had them both changed together. Having just one spring changed originally turned out to only being putting off the inevitable!

Pleased to say the replacements lasted the several further years I owned that car and I had no further problems with spring breakages.

A front spring broke on my brother's Ford Focus while it was just parked in his driveway; another common happening, apparently.

Edited by Galaxy on 08/08/2015 at 10:58