Are electronics making cars obsolete faster?
If just about any part breaks on your 1971 Volkswagen Beetle, you could probably get a replacement from a hundred different outlets. If the black box goes out on your 1996 Lincoln Mark VIII, your car becomes little more than a giant paperweight. With the profusion of different cars and the electrical components that go in them, automakers would face an inventory nightmare if they tried to stockpile all of the necessary replacement parts. So in order to avoid that scenario, once the warranty runs out, they simply stop making the parts.
Ted Field, Sr. found out the hard way when the black box went out on his Mark VIII. Ford doesn't make the part any more -- and doesn't have to, since the warranty is finished and "the part is obsolete" -- and no aftermarket company has reverse-engineered it. That means that an 11-year-old car with 66,000 miles on it ... is also obsolete. As a customer, Field has no idea how popular -- or not -- the Mark VIII would be, and couldn't have had any idea when he bought the state-of-the-art car that he'd be scrounging for parts just a few years later (relatively speaking). We often consider the price of technology on the front end -- say, how much more will a car equipped with ABS cost? But as cars become more and more computerized, and the obsolescence of computer technology occurs in faster cycles, it will be interesting to see what kind of price we have to pay on the back end as well.
Thanks for the tip, Stedwoo!
[Source: LA Times]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Jro 10:20AM (5/17/2007)
This has been my main criticism about the Hybrid craze. I could just imagine the cost to repair an out-of-warranty Toyota Prius!
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Mike 10:18AM (5/17/2007)
1) JUNKYARDS!!!!!
2) If it were a Toyota instead of a lincoln, the parts department would give the gentleman a group hug and update the vehicle with all of the latest, 2007 electronics at no charge... while arranging a few hours at the local spa for the gentleman while he waited for the vehicle to be repaired.
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Illan 10:44AM (5/17/2007)
When that happens you then you rely on 3 things
-Aftermarket
-Junkyard
-Ebay
Car companies are intersted in selling you a new car when the waranty expire these days.Its Sad because Lincoln doesnt have anything like the Mark VIII in its portafolio and custumer wil look else where
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stephentur 10:22AM (5/17/2007)
LA Times is way way off. The Internet makes it almost impossible not to find parts for almost any American car produced in the past 20 years. You might not get a brand new "black box" but to say that cars are obsolete faster than ever is a stretch. Replacement parts will always be expensive especially the critical stuff. Just another "the world is ending" article to get people worried. Is this the black box? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Lincoln-Mark-VIII-8-Center-Computer-Message-Display_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ40017QQihZ009QQitemZ190114033648QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW
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Will 10:22AM (5/17/2007)
It's not just the "Black Box" that's nearly impossible to get a hold of. A customer of mine recently purchased a 1996 Lincoln MK VIII, in great shape and very few miles. Black looks sweet on this car! Except on the headliner, where his mechanic inadvertantly marked it while exiting the car.
So, out with the old headliner, and in with a new one. However, when we removed the A-pillar trim, the pop-clips that fasten them crumbled. Literally, they had the consistancy and rigidity of corn flakes! Even though there was nothing we could have done to avoid the damage, I told the customer we would replace them free of charge. It seemed like a pretty simple task.
Wrong. A number of different Lincoln dealerships checked their stock for me, and performed a trace using their national inverntory system. Not a single A-pillar to be found in North America. I called our parts suppliers and learned no aftermarket solution exists, either, leaving me with the unsavory choice between EBay and salvage yards.
In the end, EBay came through, and I found 1 pair of a pillars, in the wrong color, for a staggering $100. It's sad that this car, one of the last great Lincolns, in my opinion, has been kicked to the curb by Ford. I can understand where your Mr. Fields is coming from, and empathize for all the MK VIII owners out there.
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mustangcharlie 10:23AM (5/17/2007)
Looks like our poor Lincoln owner will just have to scrounge the salvage yards and Ebay like the rest of us cretins.
Also... what exactly is a "black box"? It's a Lincoln, not a commercial airliner!
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AK 10:25AM (5/17/2007)
When we were looking into getting our leaking sunroof on our 1990 Subaru fixed, we were told that we could get a new assembly shipped from Japan (not cheap). Apparently Fuji will make one part and keep it in a climate-controlled warehouse. Then when it goes out, they make another one. Too bad companies don't adopt this philosophy, especially the premium brands which Lincoln is a part of.
We decided to just cover up the sunroof with plastic whenever it rained.
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Mike 10:26AM (5/17/2007)
now, if you really want a part that's hard to find, TRY to track down a smog pump for a 1979 IH Scout with the 196ci 4banger.
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Mattlach 10:28AM (5/17/2007)
I hope he can find the part at a junk yard in good condition. That is really shitty of ford.
@#2 haha! Toyota does generally have better service, but I am usually rather uncomfortable in Toyota dealers (at least the ones here in New England. The sales people tend to be WAY too pushy for my tastes. Whenever I walk into a Saab/Volvo/BMW dealership too look at something to replace my 2001 Saab 9-5 I get treated with a lot more respect.
They don't push to make a same day sale in the same way. They realize that buying a car is something that I might want to think about and weigh my options, not just buy one off of the lot the same day.
That sales attitude - in addition to the fact that Toyota doesnt makea single vehicle that appeals to me - has helped me stay away from Toyota dealerships.
(I would consider a top of the line new Camry as they have improved a lot, but alas only the base model comes with a manual. I refuse to buy any car equipped with an automatic transmission.)
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wenge 10:51AM (5/17/2007)
Cars that quickly become obsolete and are expensive (or almost impossible) to repair is why leasing is making more and more sense.
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Steve B. 10:38AM (5/17/2007)
" now, if you really want a part that's hard to find, TRY to track down a smog pump for a 1979 IH Scout with the 196ci 4banger."
.
.
.
Wait for it
.
.
.
But that IS the smog pump!
- Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week!
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John P. 10:39AM (5/17/2007)
Every part I've bought at Toyota/Nissan service has cost at least 1000% more than I can get at the junkyard. I don't care how great their service is if the part is more than the car is worth.
I do wonder though, classic cars from this era in 50 years are going to be undriveable possibly. It's a shame, but keeps the car companies in business I guess.
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ron 11:28AM (5/17/2007)
Replacement parts may be available in junkyards, Ebay, and the lot, but is the repair facility able and willing to go to the ends of the earth to find what yon need? And how long will it take to find an item and get it to the shop, and will it work once installed?
Back in the early '90s we had a 6-year old Caddy Eldo that had the electronic climate control center go out in the middle of the summer. It took the dealer 3 weeks to get a refurbished one from Cadillac (new ones weren't available). The wife was definately not happy about loosing her a/c for nearly a month in the middle of summer!
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spm 10:48AM (5/17/2007)
At the end of the story, it mentions that he replaced the Lincoln with a Lexus ES 330. You'd think he'd get a car with a little bit less technology after getting burned like this...
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The Other Bob 10:49AM (5/17/2007)
" So in order to avoid that scenario, once the warranty runs out, they simply stop making the parts."
I don't think this is a true statement. Federal law requires companies to build a certain number of aftermarket parts. While they don't have to do it forever, I do believe car makers are required to do it longer than the warranty.
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Tyler 10:48AM (5/17/2007)
Smog pumps for IH Scouts don't exist everybody pull em off and threw them out twenty years ago. This is nothing new, automakers don't really have the capacity to continually manufacture every part for a car forever. They do try to manfacture a stockpile to keep cars on the road a long time after production ceases, but it difficult to predict what will fail in 10 years. The Japanese are no better at this, Nisaan Maximas from the eighties are nearly non-existent because rear load leveling suspension components are hard to find and insanely expensive. Only collectible cars such the beatle or mustang have enough of a market to make it possible to supply parts for.
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Gardiner Westbound 10:48AM (5/17/2007)
Until recently we owned a 1995 Toyota Camry. Though it was so reliable few repairs or replacement parts were required, it never took more than a few hours to source them from Toyota. We sold the car for 20-percent of it's new cost.
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FC RX7 Driver 10:59AM (5/17/2007)
I agree with #13, classic cars do tend to have sufficient parts both aftermarket and OEM. I have no trouble finding parts for my 20 years old RX-7. The car is still popular enough for parts availability. Sporty cars will/should continue to have parts availablility.
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Culture 1:12PM (5/17/2007)
Automakers must have parts available for 10 years after the last production date. Unless that has changed recently, that outlasts *most* warranties today. Keep in mind that applies to the whole car, not just the powertrain.
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Solo Racer 11:05AM (5/17/2007)
"5. LA Times is way way off. The Internet makes it almost impossible not to find parts for almost any American car produced in the past 20 years. You might not get a brand new "black box" but to say that cars are obsolete faster than ever is a stretch."
How is it a stretch? Ford is the one who deemed the parts obsolete, not the writer.
And there's a huge difference between getting a new, warrantied part from the dealer and buying of eBay, especially for electronics. And the link you posted is to the wrong part.
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