Citroen C4 GP Exclusive rear suspension

[2point5XCL]

Premature failure of rear suspension units featured on Watchdog. BBC 1 Wed. 2nd July.
Having first stated the problem was fair wear & tear Citroen relented and will pay 80% of P&L repair cost on cars with mileage less than 120,000 and reimburse owners that have already paid for the repair. On iplayer if interested.

[Ciaran]

So you saw it too.

I tell you what, most of that report was badly researched, and was utter nonsense in places.
They started out by saying how Citroen was famous for their "pneumatic" suspension system invented in the 50s, which used nitrogen gas instead of springs - absolutely no mention of hydraulics.
It then went on to say this 'same system' is used in modern Citroens like the C4 Picasso (which has springs, and 'airbag' type rear suspension only).

They showed pictures of the DS, CX Safari and Xantia and diagrams of spheres etc, but none of it was anything to do with this problem that occurs on C4s!

Good to see Citroen offering to pay for the repairs mind you, that's a new one.

Direct link here if anyone wants to watch it, it starts about 02:20.

Ciarán

[2point5XCL]

Spot on Ciaran. I'm not familiar with the C4 but I didn't recognise the component as similar to anything on our XMs.

[citsncycles]

I had a look under one of these C4's the other day at Tony Weston's - it was a 10 plate car and the suspension units are basically smaller versions of what's found under a modern lorry, with the compressor in a box under the floor between the rear wheels. They mentioned something about Citroen paying, and this was before the program had aired, so they had obviously sent info round the dealer network. They also mentioned something about how the units also had to be kept clean. The failed unit looked like the rubber had perished.

[White Exec]

Failure of 'airbag' suspension is also a regular occurence on Range Rovers, where you even have to be careful not to let a wheel hang when changing it, or jacking up the body, in case the airbag tears! Replacement cost is substantial.

There's a grey line now between "consumable" items such as clutches and other bits long considered to have a "service life". Flywheels (dual mass) have crossed that boundary, but it does come as a bit of a shock to owners to find that their vehicle's main 'springs' are in that category too.

Perhaps we've had a bit of practice in this department, with sphere replacement, but at much lower cost, presumably.

[kingp]

Hold on, on the P38s they are shocking for the bag issues and EAS in general but the later LR's arent that bad really. Its fitted to everything bigger than an epoke/freebie 2. They have done a lot of miles and suffer harsh environments, and the average life is way past 8years, more like 10 on most. Its recommended that past 7years you consider they will need doing but they are made of rubber... They have to flex, take great pressures, and cope with road crud getting in there and eating away at them when they are extended thru their range.

I think its more a case of bad design and the 2 things that could have been done;

1. make them from thicker proper rubber for the job
2. just stick a small LDS system in instead, christ would it be that hard to modify the rear subframe setup from an X7 to fit in there? even use the same pump and tank assembly and electronic height sensor and ecu albeit modified slighlty to cope with 1 end and not 2...

Though IMO cars of C4 size and bigger should be given the OPTION of speccing hydro in the first instance at a semi reasonable price, say £1k should cover it and leave plenty of meat on the bone and see how many people really go for it. Oh and then offer another £1k upgrade for ARCS....

Imagine a G4P with ARCS... that would corner quite well and likely be a hell of a lot safer on the roads than the current top heavy flops...