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That's not exactly great, tbh. A car can easily run for 10y (mine is due for a replacement at 19yo), so 7y seems ecologically unnecessarily wasteful. I get that
by iSnow 5y ago
That's not exactly great, tbh. A car can easily run for 10y (mine is due for a replacement at 19yo), so 7y seems ecologically unnecessarily wasteful. I get that it doesn't make sense to offer parts for 20yo cars, but if we want to live in a sustainable future, people need to stop replacing cars after 5y or so.
- oblio 5y agoMy point wasn't clear. 7 years is quite a long time. And as far as I know in general they can't prevent after market parts being produced. So car manufacturers are forced to allow their cars to be repaired, not necessarily with their parts, a long time after they've stopped selling them. IT stuff should start following the same lifecycle.
- mrspuratic 5y ago7 years is a relatively long time for a product, but not necessarily for a car. The average car age at scrap time is 13.9 years (UK stats). [Wildly off topic ranting about the balance of embodied versus emitted CO2 for the typical ICE vehicle omitted. Clue: 10 years is about the break-even point.]
- tpxl 5y ago> Wildly off topic ranting about the balance of embodied versus emitted CO2 for the typical ICE vehicle omitted. Clue: 10 years is about the break-even point Do you mean it takes about 10 years for the car to emit the same amount of co2 that was used in producing it?
- alisonkisk 5y agoIf so, that's not "breakeven". Breakeven is when future emissions savings from a newer better car make it worth scrapping (not just selling) a car and replacing it with a newly manufactured one.
- tiagod 5y agoFYI in Portugal it was at 21.6 years in 2019.
- oblio 5y agoA car has a 7-9 year production lifecycle. So that could mean 14-16 years of parts produced.
- Fnoord 5y agoNot 7 years after you bought it. It is 7 years after they stop selling it. If you bought the last one, sure. But if you bought it say 2 years after release you may end up in the tens of years of usage. Also don't forget cars need maintenance. You can compare with buying iPhone on release day versus the day before it is discontinued.
- southerntofu 5y ago> I get that it doesn't make sense to offer parts for 20yo cars Why not? Personally i believe a hardware manufacturer should be bound by law to sell parts for any vehicle it sold in the past, as long as it exists. Yes even if it was produced 40 years ago. There's no reason for it to be otherwise. If this was mandated by law all the tiny incompatibilities that they introduce with very varied models will suddenly go away because they'll be careful to make products that can actually be maintained and repaired decades from now with spare parts compatible with different models. Some people use cars who are more than 50 years old and they're just fine. Same goes for washing machines, drills, bikes... We have to stop this capitalist nonsense that keeps on producing single-use items that end up in the trash in the coming months. IT'S INSANE!
- Someone 5y ago“a hardware manufacturer should be bound by law to sell parts for any vehicle it sold in the past, as long as it exists” Cars would get extremely expensive. Imagine Ford still having to supply model T wheels and engines. They either would have to have kept a production line and employees knowing to operate it around, or have stocked ‘enough’ parts, where ‘enough’ is very hard to estimate up front. Also, stocked parts deteriorate, so for, for example, tyres, they would have to keep a production line running. And that’s the easy case. At least Ford can ballpark know how many model T’s still exist. what if a car of a model that we thought didn’t exist anymore gets discovered in a barn? And of course, that wouldn’t work in cases where manufacturers get bankrupt.
- sgerenser 5y agoWhich would happen a lot more frequently in this counterfactual.
- kingsuper20 5y ago>It's extra silly since there's always a robust aftermarket for any reasonably popular car. One difference is the difficulties in making some 'parts' now. It's one thing to make a fuel pump for a 1950's car, quite another to duplicate a controller board, often with obsolete parts and secret software, that runs the convertible top. Another is that a lot of parts are more monolithic than they used to be and harder to design/build. Look at headlight assemblies. It doesn't help that with the increasing amount of software and electronics in a modern car (a Tesla being the leading example), the auto industry is acquiring the product lifecycle times and forced obsolescence of the PC industry.
- snowwrestler 5y agoIt’s generally not necessary to replace cars every 5 years due to part shortage. For years the OEM (original equipment manufacturer) replacement parts fill into the wholesale and retail channels. If the manufacturer stops offering the part, there are still parts in those channels to meet demand, sometimes for many more years to come. The manufacturer may keep offering parts beyond the requirement, too. Parts can be profitable, and service can be a big part of dealer revenue. Dealers who make money on service put pressure on the manufacturer to keep parts available. Physical parts are also pretty easy to copy, so if demand persists beyond the availability of OEM parts, you can often get aftermarket parts. There is also a channel of junkyards and enthusiasts who hoard used parts with life still left in them. I’ve got a couple friends who like old vehicles and they are able to get parts for trucks that are nearing 40 years old. I own a car that just turned 12 and have never had the slightest problem getting parts for it, even OEM.
- alisonkisk 5y agoThat was then. Going forward, after the legal minimum expires, DRM will prevent replacement parts from working.