The reason why regular guys will not be collecting and restoring modern vehicles in the future

[Don Frelier]

Who’d he back into?

Anyone he could, it's harder than you might think.

 

[Speedbird]

I don't even want doors to lock without me telling them to.
Again. Open the pod bay doors please , HAL
At 5 degrees if the car was having trouble running I don't think I would drive it anywhere.
But I'm southern.

 

[XS22J8R]

I don't see how many cars of trucks built in the last few decades will be serviceable after a certain time. Call it planned obsolescence or perhaps those designing vehicles really don't think of or have any reason to be concerned with products they are designing being able to be repaired after a 10 or more year timeframe. Even if there are techs with the skills to diagnose problems with all the computers and networks that make up vehicles of this era, where will replacement parts come from? The auto manufacturers won't continue to make replacement parts indefinitely, and how much will the aftermarket be able to provide beyond a lot of the basics like brakes and suspension parts, belts and hoses and such?
The other factor too, is that advances in technology mean that components like chips become obsolete at some point and can't be purchased. So even if a rebuilder is reconditioning parts, they won't be able to get components to rebuild many items.
This isn't an altogether new issue as it's come up in the past. Buick GNs and several other GMs from the late 80s era had a complex brake master cylinder unit that included a hydraulic booster in the assembly. I worked for an aftermarket brake company that developed a business relationship with Delco, and they worked with my company to continue to supply that brake master assembly in the late 90s/early 2000s. Around the time I left there, there were problems starting to happen however, at least one of the component suppliers was going to stop selling a part for them, might have been a solenoid, due to low volume or something like that. I don't think the Powermaster brake master cylinder was made much longer after the time I left in 2005. I believe the Buick guys later came up with a retrofit to replace that assembly with a conventional master cylinder and booster, but I am not sure. Keeping a GN/GNX restored to as built off the assembly line condition might not be possible now.
In general aviation, there is a big problem currently where one of the most popular Navcom products of the last 25 years, the Garmin 430/530, stopped being serviced by Garmin and now can't be repaired. They said the parts needed to service them are no longer available from their suppliers due to being obsolete and that is why this happened. Thousands of aircraft owners are now facing having to buy whole new Avionics packages for their planes at the cost of 10s of thousands of dollars as repairing the popular Garmin 430/530 Navcoms is not possible anymore.
Phones, computers, tablets, are examples of products that won't last forever and can't be serviced after a period of time, and cars from the last 20-30 years are not any different.
I bought a factory extended warranty on my Ram but adding 5 years to the intitial 3 year warranty is the most they offered. I will be getting nervous after my truck has its 8th birthday!

 

[beanhead]

Everyone wants job security....
Ken Miles: And they’re going to go back to their lovely offices, and they’re going to work out new ways to screw you. Why? Because they can’t help it. Because they just want to please their boss who wants to please his boss who wants to please his boss.....

 

[Photon440]

I don't see how many cars of trucks built in the last few decades will be serviceable after a certain time. Call it planned obsolescence or perhaps those designing vehicles really don't think of or have any reason to be concerned with products they are designing being able to be repaired after a 10 or more year timeframe. Even if there are techs with the skills to diagnose problems with all the computers and networks that make up vehicles of this era, where will replacement parts come from? The auto manufacturers won't continue to make replacement parts indefinitely, and how much will the aftermarket be able to provide beyond a lot of the basics like brakes and suspension parts, belts and hoses and such?
The other factor too, is that advances in technology mean that components like chips become obsolete at some point and can't be purchased. So even if a rebuilder is reconditioning parts, they won't be able to get components to rebuild many items.
This isn't an altogether new issue as it's come up in the past. Buick GNs and several other GMs from the late 80s era had a complex brake master cylinder unit that included a hydraulic booster in the assembly. I worked for an aftermarket brake company that developed a business relationship with Delco, and they worked with my company to continue to supply that brake master assembly in the late 90s/early 2000s. Around the time I left there, there were problems starting to happen however, at least one of the component suppliers was going to stop selling a part for them, might have been a solenoid, due to low volume or something like that. I don't think the Powermaster brake master cylinder was made much longer after the time I left in 2005. I believe the Buick guys later came up with a retrofit to replace that assembly with a conventional master cylinder and booster, but I am not sure. Keeping a GN/GNX restored to as built off the assembly line condition might not be possible now.
In general aviation, there is a big problem currently where one of the most popular Navcom products of the last 25 years, the Garmin 430/530, stopped being serviced by Garmin and now can't be repaired. They said the parts needed to service them are no longer available from their suppliers due to being obsolete and that is why this happened. Thousands of aircraft owners are now facing having to buy whole new Avionics packages for their planes at the cost of 10s of thousands of dollars as repairing the popular Garmin 430/530 Navcoms is not possible anymore.
Phones, computers, tablets, are examples of products that won't last forever and can't be serviced after a period of time, and cars from the last 20-30 years are not any different.
I bought a factory extended warranty on my Ram but adding 5 years to the intitial 3 year warranty is the most they offered. I will be getting nervous after my truck has its 8th birthday!

And that's why the Concorde stopped flying. British Airways still wanted it for their customers, having just undergone a retrofit with upgraded fuel tank safety and new interiors. But AirBus, who supplied parts for it, said they would no longer manufacture the custom items needed to maintain its airworthiness certificate.

Now Direct Connection had sold the hellcat engine as a crate motor for older cars, making available the engine controller kit to make them run on the old pre-computerized cars. The same kit might work on newer cars...

 

[Detective D]

I had something similar to this happen on a Chrysler Town and Country Minivan with about every available option.
Nice van very comfortable ran and drove great.
The automatic drivers side sliding door quit working, I looked at it one day for a while didn't find anything obvious wrong and decided to just leave it broken.
About a year later (about 5 degree winters day) the vehicle wouldn't start.
Called a tow truck, grabbed some of my wifes stuff out of it shopping bags etc...
Shut the rear hatch and had a thought maybe try starting it. I don't know why just a little voice in my head said try it.
So I did and it started but not one gauge worked on the dash.
Callled the tow truck back and said I got it running.
Drove it to my friends shop because it was winter and I had a to travel for work etc...
He had it for weeks (worked on it here and there) and finally found it was the CanBus connected to the drivers side sliding door that brought down the house.

I design/install industrial factory automation systems for a living.
Told my wife if anyone ever put a design like this on my desk where a sliding door can possibly affect the engine running I'd fire them.

Mother in laws one year old Jeep Cherokee had a leaky seal on the drivers door handle.
Killed the entire Jeep every time it rained, drained the battery to zero.
Dealer couldn't find it 4 different times. They finally ran it through the car wash after they had it for a week and it killed it.
Then there was a 8 week lead time for the new door handle. She didn't have her jeep for a total of 5 months during her first year owning it.
She sold it back to them.

 

[Rebelrouser]

Well said!! My 2019 Durango has just under 19,000 miles on it and I won't own it in 10 years or 100,000 miles, whichever comes first as stated in the extended warranty. These new cars are expensive, disposable, and overly complicated junk. That video was spot on, in my opinion.

Well said!! My 2019 Durango has just under 19,000 miles on it and I won't own it in 10 years or 100,000 miles, whichever comes first as stated in the extended warranty. These new cars are expensive, disposable, and overly complicated junk. That video was spot on, in my opinio

I only purchased one new vehicle in my life a 1977 chevy truck, worst piece of crap ever. I always bought clean used and fixed as necessary. I have a 2010 dodge challenger gas gauge messed up, complicated design with two saddle tanks and twin sending units. Checked out issue is in the instrument cluster. Would buy a new one Chrysler no longer makes them. Had to send off and have repaired, lifetime warranty they say, but I was out a vehicle for two weeks waiting. Same car has an issue with blend door, plastic broke, again Chrysler quit making. I have a used one to put in, manual says remove the entire dash to install, have not built the courage to tackle yet, Dealer $1,500 estimate.