Is it safe to drive with broken shock absorbers?
Driving with broken shocks causes wheels to bounce and lose contact with the road, which compromises acceleration, braking, and directional stability. This makes operating the vehicle at any reasonable speed dangerous and requires immediate repair.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1driving at reduced speeds
- 2using specialized vehicles with rigid axle attachments limited to lower speeds
- 3driving slowly to the repair shop while avoiding potholes and exercising extra caution
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“2018 Ford escape with awful suspension. We just noticed this going up and down as he drives. It looks like it went through the plastic in the back seat area.”source ↗
dez04 · r/AskMechanics · 3,885 upvotes
“Is it safe to drive? I'll get him to fix it asap.”source ↗
dez04 · r/AskMechanics · 428 upvotes
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 8Is it safe to drive on a damaged tire while waiting for a replacement?
- 2Can I drive with a broken tie rod to get it repaired?
- 2Is it safe to drive a car with front-end damage in heavy rain?
- 4Knocking noise under car after bottoming out on driveway
- 2Why does a newly replaced driveshaft keep failing?
- 7Why does a car shake when idling after sitting for years?