Car longevity

[2][obsolete source][clarification needed] An automobile is a highly engineered collection of complex components, each of which has its own lifespan and longevity characteristics.

The MTBF (mean time between failures) of some components is expected to be smaller than the life of the car, as the replacement of these is considered part of regular maintenance.

Other components, which typically experience less wear, are expected to have a longer life; however, a large longevity may very well require replacement of several of these, raising issues of economics.

Some of these factors were explored for the horse-drawn carriage in the 19th Century poem "The Deacon's Masterpiece"[3] The life of the auto, as the collection, follows, according to a very common model, a bathtub-like pattern.

In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency assumes the typical car is driven 15,000 miles (24,000 km) per year.

[5] According to a recent study by Junk Car Medics the average vehicle in the USA last 16.58 years and 156,470 miles.

[6] For decades, many pundits, bloggers, market analysts, and promoters of products and services with claims to extend the lifetime of an automobile, have pointed to various technological possibilities and to economic trends, which -- if we accept their line of argument -- will lead us either to a world in which cars are "disposable", or else to a world in which cars will last much longer.

Another was the 1963 Volkswagen Beetle belonging to Albert Klein of Pasadena, California that had accumulated 1,442,044 miles (2,320,745 km) on 25 January 1993.