My car got hit 2 months ago on the left front side and I had to deal with insurance to get everything fixed. Today I take the car to an inspection center, and the guy says that my front right sway bar link is broken. Would this be something related to the accident? (If so I can take it back to the insurance‘s garage to have it fix) Or would this be just regular tear? (The car is only 8 years old with quite low mileage).
most sway bar links are held with rubber which will degrade over time no matter what mileage. Could it have broken? yes, but without looking at it we would never know. End links connect the whole sway bar which runs horizontally. If the accident had caused the wheel to shift in or get forced in one direction, it could have broken the link.
If it happened it happened. Sway bar End Links are not expensive nor hard to replace. Any somewhat handy person could do it. It's an easier job than changing a tire.
The sway bar stabilizes the car and stops it from swaying as much when you hit bumps or take corners. It essentially connects the wheels on vehicles with independent suspension systems. Yes, moving right could snap the link on the opposite side. However, it could also snap from hitting a pot hole. A competent repair shop should fully inspect the car before and after the repairs. They should have seen that it was broken at the time. You could contact the shop and see if they're willing to help you. Most likely, they won't as it could have easily broken from you driving the car after. HOWEVER, if they did replace it and it was a defective part, then you could get them to replace it. You would need to know what they fixed. Most invoices and work orders are extremely detailed and tell you everything that was done. This is especially true for insurance claims. I would say that it really isn't worth the time to try to get the shop to fix it. On many vehicles a sway bar is maybe 20 bucks and takes 10 minutes to replace.
