Is there a good source of data on this? On the one hand, I could believe that newer cars have better engineering which makes many components more reliable. On the other hand, crumple zones and expensive bodywork mean that modern cars are Fabregé eggs that can be easily totaled in minor accidents. And increases in the complexity and scope of what cars do can increase the cost of maintenance and make them go obsolete faster.
That’s a good start, but it would help to know more about how long cars from different model years last. Those numbers would be consistent with increasing reliability over time, but that’s not the only possible explanation. For example, if there is a cohort of 2000-2010 year cars that keeps running and getting older, while more recent cars are replaced more often, it could result in an increasing average age over time while new cars get less reliable.
This. It's not that I don't believe the article per se, but it doesn't come much further than 'technician says' which I find hard to consider as evidence for various reasons. Moreover, and that's the major flaw imo, it talks about 'appliances' as one big group as if all are alike and all brands and price ranges behave the same, and gives examples like fridges with icemakers which is a thing which is fairly new in e.g. Europe and I wouldn't buy anyway because I have no need for it.
Would be interesting to see how a plain fridge holds up, how long current 'normal' diswashers and washing machines etc last compared to the past, and that split up per brand/model group/price category. Also because anecdotally I haven't encountered issues, but that could just as well be because my expectation is different or I just had luck or I just happened to buy the right thing. I mean, I have several examples, but just to name one: my expensive cordless drill is now about 17 years old and I got a new battery for it recently making it again as powerful as it used to be. It has had zero issues and I renovated 2 houses with it. Is that expected? Did I just get lucky? I don't know, but price divided by hours of usage this thing costs close to nothing yet works great and for what I'd consider a pretty long time.
While many individual components may be better, or the chassis may be stronger and more rigid due to manufacturing improvements, materials, adhesives, etc, a lot of newer cars seem to have far more subsystems, arguably more complexity, and accordingly more failure modes.
It is technically correct that having more potential failure modes is not the same as being more likely to fail, but... now there are many more ways that car subsystems can fail, and they can render the car unusable, force the car into "limp mode," or reduce overall long-term reliability. The added complexity can also increase the cost of repair, rendering the repair a non-economical choice for the owner.
For a car, examples can include drive/brake by wire controls, traction controls, a variety of fuel efficiency (e.g. variable cylinder management), additional emissions controls, etc.
Some examples of non-powertrain related features can include windshield rain sensors, headlight leveling sensors, etc.
The manufacturer trend toward smaller-displacement turbocharged engines in ICE designs in pursuit of emissions and fuel economy performance is one of the most obvious areas of added complexity and failure modes where the long-term trade-offs are questionable. In general, serviceability has gone down, with greater need for maintenance. Fuel economy in actual driving applications often aren't as good as promised on paper and end up being comparable to the naturally aspirated engines they replaced.
The ownership experience of stuff when new versus after five or ten years is now a very different experience. Many things seem to be more obviously designed for lease or designed to be "reliable" within its factory warranty window.
If I paid for a heated seat subscription in a new vehicle, would the manufacturer would also ensure that the heated seats were still physically working if it broke?
Not to mention that whole pandemic thing and its effect on the economy. People who weren't allowed to work for a couple of years aren't going to be able to afford newer cars.
