What do you make of this gents.

[Andyk]

53 plate Fiesta, 69k on the clock, MOT July with no issue.

Father in law was bringing Dan home from golf and turned into the drive and the below happened. Thought that it could have anytime as they were coming home is not worth thinking about so lucky it was just turning onto my drive.

 

[hashluck]

Seems all to common nowadays. I thought this sort of thing was a thing of the past but seems even today manufacturers are not taking steps to adequately protect a car underbody. Planned obsolescence perhaps. I have seen some horrors on even nearly new cars (e.g. Jaguar F-Type) such that I am getting all my cars rustproofed now even any from new. It is like going back to the 60s and 70s

 

[allandwf]

Assume the trailing arm just snapped where it should pivot?

 

[Andyk]

Yes, it's rusted away and came off the bush....

 

[conaero]

Didn’t know Maserati were working for Ford Chassis dept???

 

[allandwf]

Yes, it's rusted away and came off the bush....

Looks like the bush may have been seized for a while putting extra strain on it. Whatever the cause, still not good. Just glad no one was injured.

 

[zagatoes30]

Good news no injuries but just shows its not just old cars

 

[Trev Latter]

From the corrosion point of view, subframes and trailing arms are the new bad boys. Whilst body corrosion has been vastly reduced, it's the components around them that are failing. There are some pretty nasty pictures of corroded subframes etc on the DVSA website when I looked on there yesterday.

 

[philw696]

Its 15 years old and what was considered a basic car which never really had a shelf life that long.
When I was testing cars in the UK one of the worst cars for rust was the Mazda 6 a good car but rotted away like an old Lancia Beta.
Down here they don't rust and hold their values amazingly.
Remember the MOT is a visual test the moment the car is in the MOT bay.
Did it get any advisories for corrosion.
Looking at the pictures I would be checking brake pipes carefully.
So glad it didn't cause an accident Andy.

 

[Andyk]

No advisors at all Phil as checked that to see as would have thought it would have picked some kind of decay. Just going to scrap it Phil as the engine wasn't perfect and was going in next week to see what was wrong.

 

[philw696]

The problem is the Test is never consistent and all down to the Guy on the day unless you have a relationship established I'm afraid.
If the mechanics were okay changing the beam axle would be nice and easy.