Failure analysis of an automobile damper spring tower

The cause of a passenger car’s damper spring tower early failure is investigated in this paper. Inspection of the road surface, tire inflation pressure, suspension, and service load are firstly done in order to determine the further test procedures and analysis methods. The static stress of the spring tower caused by the body weight is calculated by finite element model. Public road tests with an equipped car are carried out to simulate the real usage by the customers. With the measured strain signals of different test conditions and local strain–life method, fatigue life prediction is made. The calculated fatigue life coincides with the actual failure mileage, and it turns out that the broken spring damper causes the early failure of the spring tower. It is suggested that more emphasis should be taken on the durability design and test of the spring damper.