When do companies stop making parts for vehicles?

Posted by Phoenixf1zzle@reddit | askcarguys | View on Reddit | 8 comments

Just saw a post in another sub about a new vs old part for a 95 Intrepid and it got me wondering who still makes parts for a vehicle that old? Furthermore, when do car companies stop making parts for their cars? Here's for sake of example, I have a 2018 Frontier Pro4x, how much longer will Nissan produce parts for this make and model before I have to move over to the new frontier or another vehicle because I can't find new or "New" parts anymore?

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8 Comments

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petergaskin814@reddit

In Australia we have an Australian law to ensure spare parts for at least 10 years. Then there are suppliers of things like starter motors and alternators that will continue production. Then some vehicles are still produced and sold overseas and these parts may work In Australian vehicles. Where we have a problem is with airbags. Due to Takata airbag recalls, we will run out of suitable replacement airbags. A whole lot of pre 2000 model vehicles were bought back and probably be crushed due to absence of working new airbag. If you still have problems you can always print replacement parts. A new technology that will save many vehicles in the future

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Altruistic_bay_2587@reddit

Pues qué mal me parece que se tire un vehículo al desguace, debido a que falta una bolsa de aire. Me parece anti ecológico. Pero claro, los fabricantes es lo que quieren , que se consuma sin parar

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Vojta7@reddit

I semi-regularly go to my local Toyota dealer to buy parts for a car that went out of production in 2005, most of them are not only still in stock but actually **still in production** and quite cheap.

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Altruistic_bay_2587@reddit

De qué coche hablas? Porque yo para el Toyota Hiace 2001 ya no tengo nada

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Gatesy840@reddit

Not sure about elsewhere but in Australia it's law that manufactures must supply parts for 10 years. When our local manufacturing ended of the Ford Falcon the Geelong plant was pumping out spare parts after they stopped making them until the government was satisfied it was 10 years worth of spares

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joelunch@reddit

Do you have a source for this? Is this still the law?

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Gatesy840@reddit

As far as I know yes, I was at Holden as they were shutting shop so was told this but cannot find anything about 10 years below, just a "reasonable amount of time" https://consumer.gov.au/sites/consumer/files/2016/05/0553FT_ACL-guides_Guarantees_web.pdf And this is 8 years old so may not be completely relevant https://www.carsguide.com.au/car-advice/q-and-a/how-long-do-car-companies-have-to-supply-car-parts-40236

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RevolutionaryTea190@reddit

I have an answer. I read this earlier and asked it in a meeting that we were having for shits and giggles. This answer comes 1. The plant manager of an automotive parts manufacturer, along with several members of our own and a customer's corporate production team. So today was the day to fuck around and find out. The company went be named but is a large supplier of stamped and welded parts for multiple manufacturers based in the US and the auto manufacturers are both domestic and international companies with plants here... it goes like this... We, the supplier, get a bid to produce parts. It's a certain number of parts at a certain rate of production for a certain amount of time ( usually 5 year stints, some 10, some more) and for a certain price per part. We have to produce by the customers exact standards, timeliness etc. Say for instance my company goes bankrupt...which it did once.. we are obligated by law to continue to produce parts EVEN IF WE CANNOT DO SO WITHOUT A LOSS. If say the company stops existing, the customer first would send people to manufacture those parts still, then find someone else who can, not spending anymore money to do it. Those parts are paid for already. The specific term is dependent on the terms of an individual contract the norm is 10 years. But its also calculated as a per vehicle model basis because many cars have the same components for 2 wildly different vehicles. So you may have 10 years for this part for this car, 5 years for another, 10 years for another...all the same part. So basically it's an in perpetuity thing. Manufacturers roll out bids and orders constantly. A supplier could be making parts today that won't even be put in a car for another 15 years and that car may only be a concept today but would use the same part. It's basically you go in and produce until the manufacturers stop producing that car or cars with that part and add 10 years onto it.