Old vehicles banned from driving on the Paris ring road on July 31, 2020 (AFP / ALAIN JOCARD)
Tougher 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 primary cause of car obsolescence paradoxically comes from a desire to make them less polluting: certain cities like Paris have banned the entry of the oldest cars, pushing “many motorists to part with old thermal vehicles that are still functional (but polluting)”, which “represents a risk of exclusion of certain populations”, notes HOP in the introduction.
But while the current economic model for purchasing and maintaining automobiles is well-oiled, a guarantee of a “long, healthy life” for many vehicles, the emergence of electric cars risks putting it at risk. badly, warns the association, which questions the long-term reliability of batteries and their repairability. Some turn out to be assembled in such a way that they cannot be dismantled: hence the risk of de facto “disposable batteries” when these represent “between 30 and 40% of the value of the vehicle”.
A mechanic works on a battery module for an electric car in the Revolte specialized repair workshop, in Carquefou (Loire-Atlantique), November 30, 2022 (AFP / LOIC VENANCE)
Another trend that worries HOP: the production of new models in factories using very large castings instead of assembling dozens of sheets. A source of savings and lightness for manufacturers, these elements can turn into a nightmare for insurers and policyholders: “at the slightest shock, it will be necessary to replace such an important part of the car that it will probably be more profitable to scrapped 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, argues that the same problem arises in current vehicles equipped with of electronic chips refusing “grafts” of parts not assembled in the factory. HOP also mentions the risk of software obsolescence of very highly digitalized vehicles.
In addition to “a repairability index” for vehicles, the association would like the creation of “standards of durability and reparability of batteries in Europe”, or even a ten-year guarantee for accumulators, as well as the removal of obstacles to the use of reused parts .