My apoligies in advance for length of this message. I'm new here and hoping your collective wisdom might be helpful.

My 2008 Honda Fit has only 75k Kilometres. Since 2013, it seemed like I had a problem with my shocks but twice dealers checked and said they were fine.

The car was parked this year from Dec/14-June/15. It was occasionally started and moved around, but not driven off the property. I was out of the country.

On the first day of my return, within minutes of driving...I heard a few clinks and felt like something fell from under car. A few hours later on my return home, it happened again...this time I pulled over and found the broken piece on the pavement.

Went to dealership and they immediately recognized it as part of my spring coil. Sure enough, when they checked....both sides had same missing piece. Slight corrosion at the point where it broke.

Cost to replace assembly almost 1200.00. Honda Canada claiming that it's because the car was parked and the coil was allowed to rust (just small area where it sits in the tray). They offered to pay for only one part, on one side ($400)....and apparently were being generous because car is out of warranty.

Dealership says they have never seen spring coil snap like that. Not many Fits in my town though. When I pressed for more information, the service manager asked to see the car again and checked to see the condition of the rubber lining of that tray where the coil rests. No rubber!

He looked in their database and apparently 2007 and 2008 models Honda Fit had no rubber. He said this was very unusual as all cars have the rubber to prevent metal on metal (and corrosion!) and it was likely a design flaw corrected in 2009.

Biggest problem I'm having besides the cost and Honda's unwillingness to cover it - the shock absorber assembly has been discontinued and the individual coils are on backorder until end of August.

Dealer told me not really safe to drive car on the hwy, and I'm suppose to be on the road in a few days to go work on a property south of the border and I had no plans to return until winter.

I can't find any references online to other Honda Fit owners having this problem. I also can't find anything online telling me that leaving my car sit for one winter could do this kind of damage.

Seems wrong that I can't safely drive my car, yet I can't get replacement parts without searching scrap yards.

Is there a way to find out if Honda was aware of the potential problem with the missing rubber? Or, if there have been other Honda Fit owners with similar spring coil issues?

I'm really stuck here....have no idea what to do next.

Would love to hear your thoughts.

 

7 year old car and salty winter in Canada is probably why your springs rusted. I doubt you had them changed since first ownership too. Now its just the springs that snapped off? and the spring seat rubber? when u say whole assembly, are you talking about the front springs and struts? i'm sure someone here with a GD who has coilovers have a set lying around on the cheap.

 

Thanks for the quick reply.

7 year old car with only 75k kilometers, which is like 46k miles. They haven't needed to be changed because there's nothing wrong with the shocks. It hasn't yet reached the normal mileage when replacement is necessary. Last service found no issues to warrant replacement. Dealer said he has never seen coils snap like this (especially not at this mileage).

According to what we figured out at the dealership today, the 2007-2008 model Fit did not come with spring seat rubber - which is probably why some rust developed. If true, one would have to believe this is a design issue but then why aren't more people reporting having this problem?

The dealership said it would be easier and cheaper to just replace the entire front strut assembly units....but they were surprised to learn that these assembled units are discontinued.

Ordering the parts individually doesn't solve the problem either because the spring coils themselves are on backorder until end of August.

Would be awesome if somebody has what I need laying around for cheap.

 

yeah 1200 for both assemblies with install is way too expensive. they are trying to rip u off. a quick search on bernardiparts.com indicate that the oem assembly is not available. each one would cost about $226.80 USD. A reputable shop would probably charge you to $45 per side to install.

 

rockauto sells a strut & mount kit complete with everything besides the spring for $219.79 for a pair. individual oem spring is 71.75 on collegehillshonda.com. so your repair should be around $500 with labor...

 

Thanks! I have to admit, I find these auto parts websites a bit overwhelming.

I should try to find somebody with original coils they swapped out.