The EPA on Truck Episode's missed point

S

Saddle Tramp

Active member
Tim is really taking a beating in the comments on this episode (and there's way too much politics in there) Big props for him posting it in the first place BUT did anyone catch the news in the first ten seconds of the video?


The EPA figures that light duty trucks should reach 225,865 miles on average; that works out to be 16 years if you drive around 14,000 miles per year.
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This brings up a question: Do the manufacturers use this estimate as a guild line to their vehicle's life expectancy? It would be interesting if they do because in previous videos about transmission fluids systems being sealed, the manufacturer reps told Tim the fluid in it lasted "The life of the vehicle" but would never give a number. Now he has ammunition to hone in on the true number. If a PR guys waffles on the mileage or year of the life expectancy of a system, he can ask if it's the same as the EPA's estimate.

Also, does this mean that even the compact pickups (Maverick and Santa Cruz) are expected to last that long? 🤔
 
Saddle Tramp said:
Tim is really taking a beating in the comments on this episode (and there's way too much politics in there) Big props for him posting it in the first place BUT did anyone catch the news in the first ten seconds of the video?




This brings up a question: Do the manufacturers use this estimate as a guild line to their vehicle's life expectancy? It would be interesting if they do because in previous videos about transmission fluids systems being sealed, the manufacturer reps told Tim the fluid in it lasted "The life of the vehicle" but would never give a number. Now he has ammunition to hone in on the true number. If a PR guys waffles on the mileage or year of the life expectancy of a system, he can ask if it's the same as the EPA's estimate.

Also, does this mean that even the compact pickups (Maverick and Santa Cruz) are expected to last that long? 🤔
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I don’t think so. The EPA estimates are released long after the design decisions on the vehicle have been made. The manufacturers already done extensive testing to include the expected life of the vehicle. I can’t see the EPA estimates telling them something they don’t already know.
 
Saddle Tramp said:
This brings up a question: Do the manufacturers use this estimate as a guild line to their vehicle's life expectancy? It would be interesting if they do because in previous videos about transmission fluids systems being sealed, the manufacturer reps told Tim the fluid in it lasted "The life of the vehicle" but would never give a number. Now he has ammunition to hone in on the true number. If a PR guys waffles on the mileage or year of the life expectancy of a system, he can ask if it's the same as the EPA's estimate.


Also, does this mean that even the compact pickups (Maverick and Santa Cruz) are expected to last that long? 🤔
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I'm betting manufacturers have their own target numbers that they task the design team with achieving. Could they make it longer? Sure but why? It's all about balance. Long enough to maintain ownership-loyalty but not long enough that people only need to buy one in their life. Those well kept numbers would be interesting to see between the builders. Does Ford use 225K? If so, does Toyota use 250K?
 
Saddle Tramp said:
This could be the new numbers war between manufacturers. Forst was cubic inches, then horsepower, then payload, how about life expectancy next?
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lol...a race to the bottom? Because if you keep trying to beat the other guy....eventually, you'll never sell anything new and you will disappear.
 
Saddle Tramp said:
This brings up a question: Do the manufacturers use this estimate as a guild line to their vehicle's life expectancy? It would be interesting if they do because in previous videos about transmission fluids systems being sealed, the manufacturer reps told Tim the fluid in it lasted "The life of the vehicle" but would never give a number. Now he has ammunition to hone in on the true number. If a PR guys waffles on the mileage or year of the life expectancy of a system, he can ask if it's the same as the EPA's estimate.

Also, does this mean that even the compact pickups (Maverick and Santa Cruz) are expected to last that long? 🤔
Click to expand...
Now that's an interesting question. I think this begs a bigger question on planned obsolescence. It seems to me some consumers seem to think automakers build vehicles to fail. I also know there are zero engineers who want their part or vehicle to fail. I tend to believe IF a part fails, consumers immediately rally to the planned obsolescence idea and somehow that makes them feel better because they then have some unknown engineer to point a finger at.
 
testerdahl said:
Now that's an interesting question. I think this begs a bigger question on planned obsolescence. It seems to me some consumers seem to think automakers build vehicles to fail. I also know there are zero engineers who want their part or vehicle to fail. I tend to believe IF a part fails, consumers immediately rally to the planned obsolescence idea and somehow that makes them feel better because they then have some unknown engineer to point a finger at.
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I’m guessing that most engineers are designing to a desired MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures). What MTBF they shoot for will be limited by what’s technically feasible as well as what’s viable from a cost perspective. I’m not seeing any planed obsolescence though it does seem to be a prevalent theme on many forums.
 
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