Yup, you nailed it, impact. Metal bends. I haven't had an oil pan rust through on any of my cars, and I keep older cars than most people in the midwest. I've be

Yup, you nailed it, impact. Metal bends. I haven't had an oil pan rust through on any of my cars, and I keep older cars than most people in the midwest. I've been here all of my life other than a 5 year stint in Texas. Never even heard a story about someone's rusting through. And I would believe it's a wise engineering choice, if the first time I've heard about it was in regards to a 2021 truck leaking. I don't know if the other US domestic manufacturers are doing this, but you can bet they'll be right behind as they've always chased each other in a race to making the worst vehicles possible for 50 years now in the name of profits. I read a story that in the 70s GM executives heard that Ford was cutting quality/costs by 30% in some way, and demanded they "get to do" the same. The Tacoma I'm likely to buy does have a plastic truck bed instead of stainless, which was also a surprise to me. I think everything is being cheapened up, even the Toyotas and Hondas. But I see legitimate trade offs with bed materials that could make a little more sense, much like how Ford uses aluminum beds. When Ford did that, I didn't outright scorn it like these plastic pans.