Why do vehicles rust? Poor build design or because people don't maintain them?

[snooper2]

[Agschmid]

1. Personally I'd blame route 128...

[upaloopa]

2. Oxidation

Everything deteriorates over time.
One thought that sustains me is that nature reclaims all of us and all our junk.
If there ever was a time when we no longer exist on this planet the earth would heal itself over time. I believe that we can destroy the planet for ourselves so that we can no longer survive but that would be just what the planet would need to heal.
Our cars are junk returning to their basic elements. It's foolish to think man can build something permanent.

[NuclearDem]

3. Well, when water and iron meet...

[FarCenter]

4. Excellent design

It's called "planned obsolescence". If they lasted longer, they would sell less of them.

Furthermore, no product for the American mass market can be designed so as to rely on the skill and diligence of the consumer.

[Eleanors38]

9. My take on planned obsolescence is less about manufacturing...

Most cars, T.V.s and appliances can last many, many years. Planned obsolescence is more about selling the public on: "You can't do without port injection, whisper-quiet spin cycle, PhotoShot 3.2!" when in reality we can. Been going on since at least the 50s.

"It's the latest, it's the greatest: Mashed potatoes."

[FarCenter]

13. That is hard to do with cars anymore, given fuel eficiency requirements

That pretty much dictates body profile and you can only do so much to create wrinkles in the sheet metal and move trim around.

In the '50s it worked great for GM, since they would wear out their stamping dies with about one years worth of production. This enabled them to change body shape every year with little penalty, while their competition was stuck with either not changing or discarding half-worn dies.

Currently they are attempting to get customers to go for the latest and greatest infotainment systems. It isn't working so well, since customers already have smartphones, pads and GPS that do that stuff and which are easier to upgrade. You also don't have to learn a different system in your car versus your smartphone.

[Eleanors38]

15. Yeah, the electronics aspect is just glitter. With a decent warranty

and average use, a car should go approx. 200k miles. The only thing that would cause selling early would be a big leap to electric cars; until then a useful hi mpg car will last easily for a stop gap. We can't sustain gasoline cars as the main tech for autos much longer.

[Gravitycollapse]

20. Planned obscolescence is about offering new technology piece meal...

Not purposefully designing a car to rust prematurely.

[liberal N proud]

5. I have seen his videos before - he is a riot

[snooper2]

6. Yeah, I've been following Pisser for years now

Haven't seen chooch lately though

[MADem]

7. That was entertaining!

He makes some interesting points, too!

[former9thward]

8. It depends on where you are at.

I have an 11 year old F-150 with not a spot of rust -- and I don't lift a finger maintaining it. But living in the SW I see very few rusty cars unless they are someone moving from Chicago.

[Erose999]

10. Cheap steel. Steel used in cars is thinner nowadays than it used to be as well. GM vehicles from the

90's to current are particularly horrible. Really susceptible to hail damage, and we get a hail storm once a week in North Georgia in the summertime. The GM's look like the surface of the moon from all the marble sized dents. You can get a screamin' deal on one with hail damage.

Every time I see a tag from up North in a parking lot I look at the wheel wells and rocker panels, theres always rust, lol.

[geek tragedy]

11. road salt. sure you can maintain your car, but one little nick in the middle of winter,

and the salt gets in, and it begins to rust.

and when it begins to rust, it'll never stop

[Cyrano]

12. I don't see many rusted cars in FL, however

I think most of the rust (up north) is caused by salt on the roads during snow storms. I was constantly fighting undercarriage rust when I lived up north. It just isn't an issue here in FL.

[reformist2]

14. Salt is the main culprit, but not washing your car is a big factor as well.

It's sort of like brushing your teeth. You have to do it on a regular basis.

[LeftyMom]

16. Shit weather mostly

I just had the floor pans fixed on my 48 year old car because it had a few tiny rust spots. The biggest was about the size of a dime.

Cars a fraction of that age have far more rust in the land of snow and salt. I can't imagine living someplace where you have to garage any car worth having in the winter.

[Spider Jerusalem]

17. Road salt

[snooper2]

19. we all know this

if you watch the video he explains how ignorant engineers don't design body panels correctly so the capture dirt/moisture/debri

[William769]

18. I have never had a vehicle rust.

I don't do anything special.

[hatrack]

21. Dunno, but . . .

E-coat has been industry standard for luxury cars since the . . early 1960s (I think) and for pretty much all vehicles since the 1980s, and it's so much better than painting tech that went before it's not even funny.

That said, everything is eventually going to wear out . . . especially iron and steel hungry to be oxidized (anthropomorphically speaking).