Stricter regulations, the rise of digital technology and vehicles that are more difficult to repair: after telephony, a French association points out on Wednesday the growing risk of planned obsolescence in the automobile.
In a report, Stop Planned Obsolescence (HOP) calls on public authorities to take measures to curb this potentially costly trend for the consumer and harmful to the environment, in particular by establishing a “repairability index” for vehicles.
The main cause of car obsolescence comes, paradoxically, from the desire to make them less polluting: some cities like Paris have banned the entry of older cars, pushing “many motorists to get rid of old thermal vehicles that still work (but contaminate)”, which “represents a risk of exclusion of certain populations”, HOP points out in the introduction.
But while the current economic model of car purchasing and maintenance is well-oiled and guarantees a “long and healthy life” for many vehicles, the emergence of electric cars risks putting it in danger, warns the association, which questions the situation. Long-term reliability of batteries and their repairability. Some are assembled in such a way that they cannot be disassembled: hence the risk that they are de facto “disposable batteries” when they represent “between 30 and 40% of the value of the vehicle.”
Savings and lightness
Another trend that worries HOP: the production of new models in factories using large castings instead of assembling dozens of sheets. A source of savings and lightness for manufacturers, these elements can become a nightmare for insurers and policyholders.
“At the slightest impact, it will be necessary to replace such an important part of the car that it will probably be more profitable to scrap it in the event of an impact,” fears the association.
This, which obtained at the end of 2022 the opening of an investigation by the Paris prosecutor’s office against Apple for having made it difficult to repair its smartphones with generic parts, maintains that the same problem arises in current vehicles equipped with electronic chips that “grafts” of parts not assembled in the factory are denied. HOP also mentions the risk of software obsolescence in highly digitalized vehicles.
In addition to a “repairability index” for vehicles, the association would like to see “standards for durability and repairability of batteries in Europe” created, or even a ten-year warranty for accumulators, as well as the removal of obstacles to use . of reused parts.
Source: BFM TV
