11-01-20, 04:18 PM
Quote:Take a look around your local car breakers yard. 30 years ago, almost every car in the yard would have either been rusty or crashed causing it to be sent for scrap. These days the yards are half full of undamaged, good looking cars that are only there because something like the ECU failed or the driver lost their only key and to fix it would cost more than buying another car.
Yeah 30 years ago a lot of the cars in the scrap yard were ten years old or less. Today most of the cars on the road are over ten years old. And where is the planned obsolescence in my trusty old Fazer thou – now 16 years old (touch wood – fingers crossed etc)?
If you are running an old car and the ECU fails – well check e-bay – you’ll probably find a working one for 20 quid or so.
In fact the car industry has a problem, it’s become too reliable – it’s recognised as one of the reasons for falling sales.
I think goods are designed for the market – manufactures complete to make what we want, and yeah we want it as cheap as possible.
Over 30 years ago a washing machine was a major purchase, and if it broke down you paid to have it fixed. Now you buy one, and if it fails two years later you toss it out and buy another.
I’ve been saying this for years, and considering we have a climate emergency it's all the more relavent, the EU should have set minimum standards years ago. Minimum guarantees on white goods should be 3 years for example – with a move to push it to 5 and further. We have a throw away society and it’s a threat to our future.