MDXMan

What were your inital symptoms? How did you know there was a problem?

gregory parker

The front right spring on my 2001 Acura MDX just broke, I immediately suspected inferior material, as there was very little rust, no off-road driving, or other stress applied to the vehichle.

prelude97

I'm not sure if that's a "symptom". How did you know to look at your springs? I normally never look down there. Did it start to squeek, knock, or make some funny noise? Or was it the the side the spring was on dropped by an inch???

gregory parker

Noise and a couple inch drop on one side. This MDX only has 51,700 mi. on it, just outside of warranty, and has always been well maintained. Acura said repairs are out of my pocket, and would not even cover the cost to have it towed to a dealer to be looked at.

GordonD

I just got a phone call from the dealer on behalf of Honda Canada offering to give me a dealer credit of the costs of the new struts (about 60% of the whole bill).

Any thoughts?

01usjdmr

That sounds like what usually happens if a pretty decent honda customer has concerns like that and notifies them.

GordonD

After some more negotiation Honda Canada has agreed to give me a credit at the dealer of 100% of the cost to fix. I would have preferred cash but this will do - we have a CRV as well as the MDX so I will start taking it there for services

jollyrancherman

My right front spring broke on my 2001 MDX last winter while I was traveling down the freeway at 60 mph. The top of the spring sliced through my tire and I skided to a stop on the side of the road. Really shook me up. Acura dealer told me "it happens." Any recent insight on breaking springs?

Today, I learned both front end struts are leaking. At 125,000 this will be my third set. Acura dealer told me this is common on SUVs. Is this true? I only drive city streets.

GenXer

I don't beleve that just happens. I'd guess there is a design flaw in the MDX, and they're trying to give you the brush-off. I'm surprised Honda is not being proactive fixing this. Spring steel is extremely tough. That's the one component that I would expect to never fail on a reasonably driven vehicle.

MDXMan

I had both of the springs on the front of my 1988 Honda Accord sedan to break when I hit a curb at 35 mph. I didn't even relize it until I took the car to have the front end aligned. I did have over 200,000 miles on it at the time.

On my 2001 MDX, I have 83,000 miles and haven't hit a curb yet.

Honda told me when I complained about them on the 1988, that it can also happen if you hit anything big like a pothole or rock.
go figure