My dad was an engineer for a major appliance manufacturer from 1955 until 1965, I can recall him telling me about "designed obsolescence" where parts were designed to wear out so that new products were needed to be purchase and thus creating profits for the manufacturers... and this was in everything from toasters to trucks. It seemed that many people in-the-know consider DO as a shady way of doing business, but hey, '...everyone was doing it'. I thought that the practice had phased-out, and I suppose that it has to a certain extend because products today seem to be of better quality. As always, thanks for another great video
I don't know if I buy that. I had a Whirlpool refrigerator that was bought in 1973 and finally died in 2015. That's 42 years and in that time it needed one $25 part which I put in myself. I have a twenty year old Whirlpool washer that has required three parts. I broke one of them so let's no include that. I replaced the two that I didn't break for about $75. Most people would have considered both the fridge and the washer as write offs because they aren't capable of doing simple repairs and don't want to call a service guy. None of the repairs were very complicated and required little more than a screwdriver. I sell appliances for a living (someone has to do it) and I get the people who have old appliances that have lasted twenty or thirty years. I also get the people who have a five year old appliance with a ten dollar broken part and they want to buy a new appliance. As a salesman, I love the latter group but as someone who hates waste, I cry inside when someone buys a new dryer because the belt broke on theirs. New appliances don't last because the computer controls get fried and cost half the cost of a new appliance.
This is why I never recommend or buy new cars with Nav because the Maps become outdated quickly and updates are either un-available or the dealer charges too much money to install new updates. I'd rather buy a Garmin with lifetime map updates that you can just stick on the windshield. Not worth spending thousands on a nav option that goes obsolete when the lease ends when you can spend a few hundred on a better Garmin unit.
Racketeering: when the only solution to a problem is offered by the same entity that caused the problem. Leases are not the answer. Class actions are. Anti-trust suits. And no more bail-outs.
Very good information, Mr. Cooley -- can you talk about standards or laws to keep car parts in production when an automaker goes out of business? Is that any different than the 10yr rule of thumb? I have a GM based Saab 9-7x and love it.
An old mate worked at the Samsung TV factory back in the late 90's. They put two speakers in every tv, only activated 1. The first failed after 2yrs by design, you then had to pay for parts and labour when your TV sound failed to get it fixed. They would just tap a special code into the remote, activate the second already installed set and give the tv back, zero labour or parts used. My mate could turn on the second set, and the TV sound was produced from both from day 1. When the sound failed as designed, they actually had to replace them of course... However, they couldn't charge extra as they were already charging for the work.
I could not buy a new wiper/body control module for my 1994 Ford Thunderbird. That is unacceptable. I resoldered all the connections on the board and now it works. I used a 16 pin ABS connector to fix the speed control amplifier when the connector disintegrated. Like putting an aftermarket stereo in.
buy something older. my wife drives a pristine 1990 grand prix with the 3.1. car had 65K on when we bought, it now has 75K a year later. only had to replace the fuel pump so far and i do my own repairs.
would you please make a video on tires and I'm not speaking of that poring tires info stuff . I'm talking about modification tire from poring narrow tire to aggressive look wide tires not too aggressive per saying though and not necessarily to have those 19 or 20 inch wheels . i want to keep my 16 inch wheels only on a wider tire . just to change the way OEM car poring tires look ..
I saw the wrecked Tesla and immediately went to the comments to see if there were any fanboys that commented on it... LOL Tesla cult is strong and loud for sure! LOL!
Not really anything to debate. A car w forward emergency braking requires a sensor somewhere in the front bumper. It has to be calibrated to the cars alignment and aimed correctly to read obstructions in front of the car. The sensor is not a simple plug-and-play component. After even 1 bump, scrape, ding, parking block, or any kind of impact to the front bumper the system will no longer work properly. The sensor system will need to be replaced and\or calibrated to work again. Now imagine the car being 10 years old. How much damage has the front bumper or the sensor taken in its lifetime so far? How much will it cost to repair the system when the car really isn't worth as much anymore? How much higher will the repair bill be should anyone try to make an insurance claim? These cars will have a higher chance of getting totalled out due to the higher cost in repairs. We have now arrived to the obsolescence point for this system. The car might still run and drive but the warning lights will be constantly illuminated.
The radar can be a separate sensor behind the ginormous emblem or just be a rectangular plastic looking thing on the grille. It varies by manufacturer obviously. How else would simon describe it?
simon: It'd be interesting to see how all this advanced safety crap that consumer reports and IIHS keeps asking for, ages over time. My old car was a 2001 Camry. Will TSS-P function on that 2018 Camry in 15 years?
Wait until you get the repair bill on one of those when it inevitably breaks. YIKES!!! If you want a cheap-ish reliable car, buy a used electric car. They have far fewer moving parts than gas cars, and the parts that do move don't break a lot, and are simpler as a whole (one-speed transmission on EVs vs. 4+ speeds on gas cars, for example). Some of them have gotten really cheap. For example, used Chevy Spark EVs are under $10K or further (if you can negotiate price), but are limited in supply (they were only sold new in CA, OR, and MD). Nissan Leafs are easier to find nationwide; the 2013-2016 SV and SL trims will give you the best range in the winter, and cost in the ~$10-17K range. Then there are used BMW i3's, many of which are under $20K.
Michael Ball Used EVs have batteries that have degraded to the point they need to be replaced, that bill can be up to $10k alone! This is why you should AVOID used EVs especially Tesla's since they not only have that battery but a bunch of other useless tech junk that will break as well.
Adam Smith Tesla's reliability issues are not battery-related; their packs are very reliable. A car with a liquid cooled battery has very low degradation, like the Spark EV, i3, and 500e. Also, Leaf batteries from 2013 on have been very resistant to degradation, unless you live in a very hot climate. Garaging the car will help, there.
FastLikeUNO Car manufactures are sneaky, they hide useful info so that regular OBDII compliant scanners can't see it thus requiring you to visit the stealership and pay their ridiculous diagnostic fee.
This problem is exactly why I don't pay any attention to "perks" on a vehicle option list like gps or satellite radio when I have a MUCH cheaper and better option right on my phone.
Electronics are my big worry with modern cars. I buy cars and run them for ten or fifteen years. Generally until they just fall apart. With modern interconnected computerized cars, I worry that a thirty five cent chip will disable my car and since it won't be available anymore, I'll have to scrap a mechanically sound car.
Some makes like Mercedes keep making parts (other then suspension, drive and engine parts) for at least 15-20 years. And then Mercedes will still make parts for their older cars.
ANDROiD_eKa And the state that makes it illegal to run your home or business on solar power when you lose power from the grid. That's how backwards the Sunshine State's government is, there.
If your cat went there is almost certainly something wrong in the engine. It's either running rich or it's burning oil. Cats don't just go bad unless you overwork them.
The bigest environmental problem right now isvthrowing out cars that if were designed to be fixed and worth keeping. We could spend less energy making the same thing again.
Oh God! Don't show a burned out Tesla!!! I don't think I have the energy to deal with the whining and crying of the Tesla cult today... :-( Here... "Tesla's are perfect, they have no issues, anyone who disagrees is in the pocket of big oil. Their build quality is the best of any car in history, they are better than any car ever produced on this planet, bigly... Elon Musk isn't a thin skinned Trump-like cry baby, he is a visionary who is going to change the world and deserves to be worshiped more than Jesus." There, that should shut them up...
I'm curious how tesla gets round that right to repair part mentioned. I've seen alot of vids on RU-vid where people cannot repair them even when minor parts break. They don't make enough parts to even keep the production line supplied, never mind the repair markets, and try getting anything done in a none tesla dealer. Those things are a nightmare.
This is not obsolescence by design.Obsolescence by design is when you purposely manufacture items in such a way that they break after an x amount of time.
Still gotta throw hate at Tesla, even in not so subtle ways, huh? What exactly happened that has roadshow so butt hurt at tesla about that idiot's crash?
