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 the numbers show
Counted from the threads quoted below. How we count
- It goes quiet, then comes back — 3 separate clusters since January 2026.
- It is not one crowd: 3 people on Reddit and 1 on Stack Exchange ran into the same thing.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1driving at reduced speedsDid this help you?
- 2using specialized vehicles with rigid axle attachments limited to lower speedsDid this help you?
- 3driving slowly to the repair shop while avoiding potholes and exercising extra cautionDid this help you?
- 4changing how I drive, basically not accelerating whenever I turn left to avoid it making that soundDid this help you?
- 5Borrow a car, take the busDid this help you?
- 6getting the car towedDid this help you?
- 7repairing it at the workshop instead of driving it homeDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, 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 ↗
“Is it safe to drive? I'll get him to fix it asap.”source ↗
“Pretty sure I need to get my Front Axle Assembly replaced, but I'm broke. How long can I drive for?”source ↗
“I'm panicking driving to work every day because I legit think I'm gonna die (I tend to panic easily and though)”source ↗
“But I'm broke, and won't get paid until next week. How much time should I have? Should I drive the car at all?”source ↗
“During a regular car inspection last week it was found that the suspension spring on the right front side is broken with a pointy end, why the inspector decided it was not safe to drive and i had to get it towed to a workshop as I was not allowed to leave it there.”source ↗
“Is there anything I could do to decrease the risk of potential breakdown on the way home from the workshop, if i turn down their offer in favor of repairing it myself?”source ↗
“Feeling nervous about the car ride home from the workshop.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 2How long can I drive on a bad wheel bearing?
- 2Is it safe to drive with broken parking brake components?
- 9Car shakes at high speeds even with good tires and alignment
- 3Car shakes when accelerating after replacing CV axles
- 4Front suspension failure without warning
- 9Is it safe to drive on a damaged tire while waiting for a replacement?