Just got 2002 A6 4.2L - one owner, pampered car, 112K miles and NO DOOR DINGS a few months ago! Incredible shape, very well cared for, although I think the maintenance costs beyond oil changes must have scared them off. Still had original control arms, shocks and need timing belts. Got timing belts done ASAP, then did Koni + H&R suspension with control arms in early May.

After 3 weeks of enjoying this wonderful car that drove like new, wife and I
headed out for Memorial day road trip. About 3 miles in, the car hit a nasty
pothole on the driver side and I heard a loud bang. Checking the rear view
mirror for any flying debris, I saw nothing. The car drove OK, although there
was a bit more road noise.

Pulling over to check out the noise and I see smoke from the drivers rear
wheel well. The spring isolator, rubber between spring and shock mount, was
on fire. Squirting water on that put it out which revealed that the halfshaft
was cut in half by the spring mounting plate.

The bump from the pothole pushed the clip out of the shock body, resting the spring mounting plate on top of the sway bar, acting as a cutting wheel to the halfshaft.

Weird thing is that the tire did not puncture nor did the rim sustain any damage.

I found an old Honda forum with a similar problem on Accords and Preludes
where Koni said they only see it a couple of times a year. This was devastating, to say the least.

Anyone else seen or heard of this type of failure?