Contrary to the traditional concepts, for helical compression springs with a large coil radius to wire radius ratio, the most highly stressed region is at the outer surface of the helix rather than inside. The likely fatigue crack origin is also located on the outer surface of the helix where the maximum amplitude of the principal tensile stress was calculated during cyclic loading. An equation is proposed for the maximum tensile stress from loading of a helical spring, and a method is presented to calculate the likely fatigue crack origin. It is demonstrated that for high-stressed springs, fatigue design should be based on the range of the maximum principal tensile stress. The influence of the shot peening on the location of the fatigue crack origin is also investigated.