Yesterday, while pulling off of a soft shoulder on the side of a dirt road, I heard a loud metallic "ping" noise. I checked the car out quickly, and saw nothing, and assumed some brush must have been caught in the undercarriage and snapped back when I pulled out. I drove quite a ways, over some rough terrain, and then on the freeway for a good 100 miles, and noticed nothing wrong with the car. This morning, I looked under the car and saw a metal bar with joints, hanging... it had snapped clean.
I drove over to work on my day off to use the office digital camera to take some shots, with the intention of picking the brains of this board to find out what the heck it was. Guys at the office said it was the front stabilizer bar... solid steel, something that should NEVER break, especially so cleanly, unless there was a serious defect with the metal.
This, I believe falls under "suspension" and probably precludes it from the
60,000 mile warranty, but I could be wrong. If there was a serious defect with the metal, perhaps I could argue it was a pre-existing defect to get it included in the warranty. I'm also curious to know how much this might set me back otherwise.The car is a 2000 Subaru Outback, with 42,000 miles. I purchased it from a Rhode Island (USA) Subaru dealer in October 2003 right before moving about
2500 miles away (in other words, an unfamiliar dealer will be doing the work).Check out the photos and have a look if you're curious. Any advice about warranties, cost, points to argue about should it come to that would be greatly appreciated. What is most surprising to me is how clean the break is.
-Mike