Subaru Impreza Recall - Front wishbone corrosion

[WeirdNeville]

Hi all,
just a quick heads up, Subaru are recalling Imprezas (GX, WRX and Sti apparently, although some of these come with alloy wishbones) Because the steel front lower wishbones could corrode:

SIDC link

VOSA link


Certainly worth a quick visual check, as this looks pretty safety critical to me!

Edited by WeirdNeville on Sunday 26th February 10:11

[Oldandslow]

http://www.vosa.gov.uk/vosa/apps/recalls/searches/...

2002 - 2007

Is yours OK Nev? That and the rear shocks would be a nightmare.

[WeirdNeville]

Heh, poked my head under today and it has steel wishbones but they look ok. I'll make a call and get it to subaru. Saloons got the Alloy ones from '04 apparently, Wagons didn't.

Rear shocks Im pretty sure I can sort with KBY "normal" replacements for not much money.

[TerzoNeil]

my 2003 wrx had alloy arms as standard

[mikeyr]

Ooooh, just spotted this - not had a letter yet but never used main dealer, assume they get mailing info from DVLA though so best to wait for letter or ring the local Subaru dealership?

[Crazysteve]

Letter in the post today for my Fozzy, i hope they supply a courtesy car?

[ScoobieWRX]

I got a letter today too.

I must have a look at my wishbones and see what the score is although the last time i took a look i thought they were doing just fine.

In fact there is bugger all rust anywhere underneath my car, and i certainly haven't seen many newage cars with much in the way of serious rust on stress critical parts like suspension and steering assemblies, sub-frames etc..., mostly just a bit of surface rust here and there, nothing major and i've looked under a fair few scoobs over the years.

[LMC]

I got a letter the other day about my Forester. It's corrosion of the lateral links it says.

[WeirdNeville]

LMC said:

I got a letter the other day about my Forester. It's corrosion of the lateral links it says.

By "lateral link" they mean the bit that sticks out the side of the suspension arm - all part of the suspension arm itself.

I phoned today and booked my car in. They do a "punch test" (I assume a hardness punch). If it fails, they replace the arms, if it passes, they treat them to stop them corroding more.

[BigBadDavid]

Got this done on my Bugeye wagon the other week. Took less than an hour to check the suspension and waxoil the appropriate parts. I guess it's a different story if anything needs replacing though.

[Melchett]

WeirdNeville said:

Certainly worth a quick visual check, as this looks pretty safety critical to me!

Edited by WeirdNeville on Sunday 26th February 10:11

Weirdneville, was the corrosion in your picture deemed bad enough by the dealer to warrant replacement? Just wondering how it compares to mine.

[WeirdNeville]

I have no idea! That photo is just lifted from another forum to show the location f the problem. That said, you can see that the rust has penetrated the weld, and I doubt it has much strength left. I woudn't be happy driving on that and would press for replacement under recall.

[MK4 Slowride]

My car is fine, got the alloy arms.