Too many products are easier to throw away than fix—consumers deserve a ‘right to repair’::There was a time when the family washing machine would last decades, with each breakdown fixed by the friendly local repair person. But those days are long gone.
You know what needs to be added to this? Cars. The amount of body damage needed to “total” most cars is almost trivial these days.
To be fair, cars are designed to break in a car crash for safety. If it breaks it can absorb the impact a lot better and therefore make the crash more survivable.
Yeah, in this case it’s an acceptable tradeoff. I’d rather lose my car than my life.
But what about Rule of Acquisition #23: “Nothing is more important than your health… except for your money,”?
I prefer Rule of Acquisition #240: “Time, like latinum, is a highly limited commodity.”
The body and the chassis are really the only parts that need to be built for the sake of breaking for safety. The other parts on the car do not need to be disposable, but for the most they are. The part placement and design are not engineered with repair in mind.
You’d prefer the chassis deformed/broke rather than the bumper?
That’s not what I said, I said those were the parts of the car that really need to be crafted to break for safety. Your interior, electronics, your transmission, engine, etc. Can be designed with repair in mind like older cars. Most new cars are a pain to repair and not because they need to be.
Cars are themselves a symptom of a broken system designed to maximize waste. It’s wrong that the majority of people even need one to begin with.
Definitely want to see cars (and other larger purchases) more able to be repaired in future. However, especially in cases of an accident there’s other factors.
Part of it as already mentioned is a safety thing. Crumple zones and the like are there to purposefully deform so that the people inside the vehicle have a higher chance of surviving a crash.
Part of it is that being hit in the wrong way can also weaken the structural integrity of the frame making it unsafe to use. Makes more sense to strip it for parts at that point. Last thing a repair or insurance company wants is to be found liable for saying “yes the car is repairable/safe to drive”, then the front falls of on a highway.
Part of it also is that insurance companies won’t want to pay for repairs that amount to more than the cost of replacing the entire car if it’s older. Or they know they can make more money by paying out a policy then repairing and refurbishing the vehicle.
Can’t you just tow it outside the environment to avoid liability if the front falls off?
Only if you don’t use cardboard or cardboard derivatives.
Even when it is replaceable, it’s ridiculous. I accidentally pulled off the front bumper of my Prius by scraping it on a parking barrier and it cost me $800 because they had to replace a huge amount of the front of the car. The dealer wouldn’t even touch it. They said it had to go to a body shop. It’s the fucking bumper!