Are Today’s Cars Built To A Better Standard Than Older Cars?

With all the leaps and bounds in technology and production methods we should be seeing the most reliable cars ever made, however that 7 year ‘young’ car of yours could still be showing signs of wear before you expect it to. The improvements in computers and manufacturing have meant that car makers can predict the average life span of individual parts on your car using advanced computer simulations. So they can now strengthen those weaker parts for safety and save money or weight by making other parts of a car less durable.

Don’t worry too much though; parts such as the brakes and wheels will still be made to last for an extensive number of years, out-seeing the life of the car and more when being maintained. The areas they slim down will be less considerable parts and materials such as the thickness of paint used, material on the seats, rubber parts and dashboard plastics to name a few examples.

Bearing this in mind ‘a cars lifetime’ can vary but we expect the average car to last around 10 years or circa 150,000 miles. However, it’s not all bad as it means that the car should be very reliable within this time frame and also more efficient than it would have been without these changes. Also, the areas where manufacturers have been able to put parts on a diet and reduce the weight of them, play a vital role in increasing how many miles you can travel from a full tank. With drivers needing better MPG (miles per gallon) and governments pushing the fuel economy targets, this is a step in the right direction for everyone.

However, this does mean that after a decade or so, when a hole has started to wear through the seats, a yellow glaze forms over those once ‘crystal clear’ headlights and that glossy paintwork lacquer has evolved into a hazy matte finish, it is probably time to move on, as more substantial and costly parts are likely to be on their way out too.

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