Manufacturer's liability for defective car parts?

[Steve Walker]

Greetings -

I found a broken coil spring on my 2002 Stilo yesterday, luckily noticed it whilst changing the brake pads. A quick skulk around the wonderful Fiat Forum website reveals that they've been snapping left, right & centre, and there's a recall out. See

the interesting bit - it appears that Fiat's solution is *not* to change the springs from the defective batch, but instead to fit a dodgy-looking retainer bracket to catch it when it breaks. See photo's at url above, and spare a thought for the GCSE metalwork class who've been contracted to produce these things. Apparently this retainer is aimed at preventing the jagged spring-end from piercing the inner tyre wall upon failure, which could be rather nasty at speed. Can't see why they've left the front part open if that's the intention....

Anyhow, I had initially assumed that I'd be able to get the spring replaced under the recall, but some owners who've experienced breakages are being told they still have to pay for the replacement work. It seems utterly bizarre that an admitted and very serious fault should be dealt with like that - we won't replace the weak part, we'll only adapt your car so that it won't be quite as bad when it eventually fails on you. So I might be looking at a £200-300 bill for repair and reassembly by Fiat, or else buying a new set of aftermarket springs for £150 and fitting them myself.

I can't see how this position would be defensible, but I'm not sure what recourse I have after 5yrs. Is there any specific protection for vehicle recalls, or can manufacturers simply define for themselves what liability they will accept?

Thanks in advance for any ideas or ammo before I slap a buggered strut onto the service desk tomorrow morning.... :o)

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Had something similar with my BMW - the spring support platform on a front strut sheared and tore a hole in the tyre - luckily at low speed. A recall for this was issued in other countries but not the UK. Dealer and BMW GB not interested - car out of warranty but with a FMDSH.

[Sylvain VAN DER WALDE]