Do shock or strut replacement problems track days per year that cross freezing, median station across states?
Across U.S. states, NHTSA owner complaints about shock or strut replacement run higher where days per year that cross freezing, median station is higher, after adjusting for the makes sold in each state. This is an association across states, not proof that days per year that cross freezing, median station causes this repair.
State reports of this repair against days per year that cross freezing, median station, one dot per stateEach dot is a state: how much more (or less) than expected this repair is reported there, adjusted for the makes sold in the state, against its days per year that cross freezing (low at or below 32F, high above 32F), median station
How to read it: Each dot is a state. Further right means more days per year that cross freezing (low at or below 32f, high above 32f), median station; higher up means more complaints for this repair than expected (1.0 is average). If the dots climb to the right, reports of this repair rise with days per year that cross freezing (low at or below 32f, high above 32f), median station.
What it shows: States with more days per year that cross freezing (low at or below 32f, high above 32f), median station tend to sit higher on the chart across 36 states: a pattern in the data, not proof of cause.
Data: NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020 (annual), joined to NHTSA owner complaints, downloaded 2026-10-06 · 36 states. Chart: CalcScrape · calcscrape.com
The 10 states with the most days per year that cross freezing, median station (Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, West Virginia, Kansas, Pennsylvania): reports of this repair run 34% above what the makes sold there would predict, and 9 of 10 are above expected. The 10 with the least (Florida, California, Louisiana, Texas, Arizona, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, Arkansas, North Carolina): 5% below, and 2 of 10 are above expected.
Exceptions: Nevada is among the highest in days per year that cross freezing, median station but reports below expected.
Split the states into thirds: the third with the least days per year that cross freezing, median station runs 4% below what the makes sold there would predict, the middle third 5% above, and the third with the most 24% above. It steps up steadily.
For days per year that cross freezing, median station, after allowing for the 1562 comparisons we ran, luck alone would produce a pattern this strong about 1 time in 17. Take out any single state and the days per year that cross freezing, median station pattern still holds.
Weak spot: compare only states with similar annual snowfall and the pattern keeps about 39% of its strength, so part of it may come from annual snowfall instead of days per year that cross freezing, median station.
Water seeps into pavement, freezes and thaws to break it into potholes, and every pothole hit bends rims and wears tires, suspension joints and steering parts.