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> Find the planned-obsolescence parts in things like car doors that were engineered too thin or out of plastic so that door and window handles fail after a cert
by function_seven 9y ago
> Find the planned-obsolescence parts in things like car doors that were engineered too thin or out of plastic so that door and window handles fail after a certain number of uses.
There’s no way in hell car companies are purposely under-engineering things to cause them to break. That damages the brand reputation, and will drive the next sale to a competitor.
Yes, they make engineering tradeoffs. No, they don’t design a part with the specific intention that it will fail earlier than a comparable (cost-wise) design would.
- selimthegrim 9y agoI present to you - Mercedes-Benz - http://thegarage.jalopnik.com/for-the-love-of-god-dont-ever-buy-a-2007-mercedes-benz-1787538986 http://thegarage.jalopnik.com/for-the-love-of-god-dont-ever-...
- rb666 9y agoThat's just rubbish engineering, not planned-obsolescence.
- function_seven 9y agoThere are a lot of examples like this. That timing gear in your linked article is one example. The rear emblem (and trunk key cover) on a 90’s Nissan Altima is another one. They have all fallen off by now. Crappy pot metal? Either way, it wasn’t intentionally designed to do that. There was no engineer that said, “Hey, let’s juice our parts revenue in 5 years by making this hinge really weak.” EDIT: Thanks for that article, though. I could see myself getting suckered into a good deal on a Benz. Now I know why the price is so low.