Yardbird
Senior Member
Former GM Engineer Explains Industry's Pathway To Planned Obsolescence And Disposable Cars
Part 2Story by Matt Posky
Installing new parts on a vehicle has been relatively straightforward until recently. Assuming it was sized to occupy the allotted space and designed to interface with the surrounding components, there really wasn’t anything stopping you from throwing it onto the vehicle. Now, that’s being made significantly more difficult due to the sheer number of components that have been electronically laced together on modern automobiles.
The issue is assumed to worsen over time, as more companies pivot to “software defined vehicles.” Chello used transmission replacements as an example, suggesting that the shorter lifespan of modern units would presumably require secondhand owners to have some amount of work done. But that customers will effectively be locked into going through the manufacturer and paying more for both the labor and components.
Basically, the vehicle would throw an electronic fit unless it could recognize an OEM part while also being fed data from a factory approved service center. We’ve actually seen this happen already with equipment from John Deere, leading to countless farmers being outraged over being unable to service their own tractors. This, along with Apple designing phones to be less user serviceable, is what helped launch the right-to-repair movement.
Automakers are only a few years behind cell phone manufacturers and companies like John Deere. They’re also following their playbook as closely as possible, going so far to publicly proclaim that they are transitioning into technology companies — rather than traditional automakers.
former gm engineer explains industry s pathway to planned obsolescence and disposable
But the end result is that newer cars now come with all of the downsides of your smartphone while costing significantly more money. Automakers are likewise making routine maintenance more difficult or telling owners to forego things like replacing your transmission fluid. Oil change intervals have also stretched out to an absolutely ridiculous 10,000 miles.
Meanwhile, the technological nannies that are supposed to help keep you safe haven’t resulted in any obvious improvements in roadway safety. In actuality, roadway facilities have only increased since touchscreens and automatic braking have become commonplace. As a byproduct, the sensing equipment has made certain kinds of basic repairs astronomically expensive.
During the interview, our whistleblower stated that automakers do make some money off supplying parts to service centers. But the main goal is to make modern vehicles so short-lived that customers are forced to buy a new one more frequently or opt into perpetually leasing them. Ideally, automakers also want buyers using their financing to ensure they’re making extra money off the interest.
Even though the average car buyer showcases a surprising amount of apathy toward the above changes ( something Ford executives recently touched upon), Chello suggested that customers had effectively become victims of the industry pursuing arguably predatory trends. But he offered a few solutions.
With sufficient research, he suggested consumers could still find certain vehicles that are still user serviceable. While the requisite maintenance may be harder conduct without specialized tools, doing so could carry those models beyond 200,000 miles without issue. However, he suggested owners would need to place those vehicles on an extremely aggressive maintenance routine for that to happen and speculated the poor-quality materials used in modern powertrains could still lead to premature wear.
The only other option is to procure an older vehicle in relatively good shape, lacking a surplus of systems tied to control modules, that can be maintained or restored. Chello said that was his preferred choice and that it was also probably his best chance in terms of saving money over time. However, he admitted that’s not a realistic solution for most drivers.
The complete interview offers a surplus of direct examples of how much the automotive industry has changed since the 1990s and we’ve really just managed to scratch the surface in this admittedly lengthy article. But it’s an important topic for gear heads and something that is forcing all drivers to spend more money on lower-quality vehicles and fundamentally changing what it means to own an automobile. It’s well worth a listen for car people, as we were only able to cover a fraction of the main points here.
Link to Part 1
https://www.ramforum.com/threads/fo...obsolescence-and-disposable-cars-pt-1.218945/
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/com...&cvid=ae4b8787033a40dd86556c47f49c279e&ei=111
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