[thebizwriter]

I own a low-mileage (52500 miles) 2015 Kia Cadenza that underwent a front suspension coil spring failure on the left front driver’s side of the vehicle. I had just exited my driveway onto a state highway and suddenly heard a loud grinding noise. My speed was less than 15 mph before braking. The ABS and ESC warning lights immediately illuminated and I could smell burnt rubber. I investigated my left front tire and noticed that a groove was scraped into the sidewall of the tire (on the backside of the wheel). The coil spring had broken in two places and was tearing into the backside of my tire. Additionally, the ABS sensor wire harness had been ripped in three places, and had I not immediately stopped the brake line would have also been punctured.

If I had been driving at highway speed unaware of the danger, it would have cut my tire in half and ruptured the brake line causing me to lose control of my vehicle and potentially causing a catastrophic accident. I brought this to the attention of Kia and the National Transportation Safety Board as they might wish to investigate to prevent an occurrence on other vehicles produced with the same lot of coil springs. I have retained them should Kia wish to perform stress analysis, chemical analysis, microstructure observation, and hardness measurements. It is my opinion that the steel had a quenched and tempered manufacturing defect that caused this untimely fracture.

 

[onlyjeeps]

Sorry to hear you also have experienced this problem. Glad your experience wasn't as bad as it could have been.

If you do a search, this same thing has happened to several others unfortunately. One person had this happen twice on the same side of the vehicle and decided to do both front springs the next time around as a precaution. Thanks for the post.

 

[joegr]

Do you live/drive in an area that salts the roads in winter time? (I'm not saying that would excuse it, it would not. I am just curious as to if that is a factor.)

 

[MadMax]

Yeah, there was definitely a defect in the forging of a batch of these. I've been very fortunate not to have this happen, but I do recall several threads where this was happening, some in and some out of warranty coverage. There should have been a recall investigation to determine when they were made, and how many cars could have been effected. As you pointed out, you lockup/drag a front corner at high speed, that's a spinout/rollover event with utmost certainty...

 

[mdwash33]

I own a low-mileage (52500 miles) 2015 Kia Cadenza that underwent a front suspension coil spring failure on the left front driver’s side of the vehicle. I had just exited my driveway onto a state highway and suddenly heard a loud grinding noise. My speed was less than 15 mph before braking. The ABS and ESC warning lights immediately illuminated and I could smell burnt rubber. I investigated my left front tire and noticed that a groove was scraped into the sidewall of the tire (on the backside of the wheel). The coil spring had broken in two places and was tearing into the backside of my tire. Additionally, the ABS sensor wire harness had been ripped in three places, and had I not immediately stopped the brake line would have also been punctured.

If I had been driving at highway speed unaware of the danger, it would have cut my tire in half and ruptured the brake line causing me to lose control of my vehicle and potentially causing a catastrophic accident. I brought this to the attention of Kia and the National Transportation Safety Board as they might wish to investigate to prevent an occurrence on other vehicles produced with the same lot of coil springs. I have retained them should Kia wish to perform stress analysis, chemical analysis, microstructure observation, and hardness measurements. It is my opinion that the steel had a quenched and tempered manufacturing defect that caused this untimely fracture.

I had a similar issue, but mine happened after the warranty mileage, so it wasn't covered. You should be able to have yours covered as a warranty repair

 

[Passive]

I had this happen to me, driver side front. At the time I had just under 50,000 on it so KIA paid to have a flatbed pick it up and take it to the dealer (60 miles away) and covered it under roadside assistance. They also covered the cost to replace the entire strut assembly with spring. The funny thing is it broke when I was getting in to pull out of my garage. The spring was not rusted and had a clean break in 2 places. I now have 68,000 on it and am leery about the left side breaking, which others have reported that both sides went out within months of each side. Definitely should have been recalled, just glad you weren't driving down the highway when it happened.

 

[thebizwriter]

I had a similar issue, but mine happened after the warranty mileage, so it wasn't covered. You should be able to have yours covered as a warranty repair

Over 5 years so no warranty. $2,600 for repairs.

 

[Waveboarder7]

$2600?! What does the bill look like itemized?

 

[mdwash33]

$2600?! What does the bill look like itemized?

Mine was just under $2800, but it included both coil springs, both lower control arms and an alignment.

 

[onlyjeeps]

That seems super expensive! Maybe there's more labor involved than I can picture? No way parts come to even half that price.