Just read a thread in which the washer reservoir cap of a Nissan Note was likened to the foil top of a milk bottle.
This got me thinking about flimsy car parts, something that might just be capable of doing the job, but you look at and your heart sinks.
My nomination is the rear plastic bumper on the CC3.
An ice cream tub from the supermarket freezer is sturdier and looks like it would be more durable.
Any other examples of mass-produced, low-rent tat fitted to cars?
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Interior door handle on the Espace - SWMBO had her chauffeur opening the door for a week a while back, and at the moment I'm having to unwind the window to open the door from the outside. Miserable plastic fixing which couldn't pull open a catflap.....
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Rear bumper again on a Ford. The original Mondeo this time. The lower part was battered by the air travelling under the car and would eventually crack.
Locking wheel nut adapters as supplied by Volvo. Not up to 140Nm torque specified for the wheel nuts.
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Rear bumper again on a Ford. The original Mondeo this time. The lower part was battered by the air travelling under the car and would eventually crack.
I always wondered why you see so many old Mondeos with gaffa /duct tape all over the rear bumper.
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...Rear bumper again on a Ford. The original Mondeo this time. The lower part was battered by the air travelling under the car and would eventually crack...
I can remember seeing the lower part of the rear bumper flexing quite a bit when Mondeos passed me on the motorway.
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hatch button on a megane - held on by a rubber grommet! Always popping off leaving owners with no button to press and a hole to let water into the hatch and associated electrics etc inside!!
(And yes its just happened to me - luckily whilst parked so I saved the button which is now secured by a paperclip temporarily)
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Fuel flap on FIAT Stilos. Made of rice paper.
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any cup holder with a flappy bit that drops down allowing aforementioned 'kinder egg toy' holder to slide out.
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First Aid box hinge on E46 BMWs - The best FA kit outside of your A&E and a hinge that brakes when you look at it - the only thing that broke on my E46 in 80k. Fixed it with the German made plasters in the end.
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A lot of the interior plastic in my '89 Lancia Delta GTie. Developed a myriad of cracks after not very long. But I'd forgive it anything, a car with real, er, personality.
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my fly by wire accelerator module
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Spring on an Toyota accelerator pedal?
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The washer filler 'hose' on a 3 Series E9x, the car is engineered to a very high standard but you can tell they've saved money (or perhaps weight) where they didn't think it was needed, the concertinaed pipe/hose for the washer filler resembles the stuff a tumble drier hose/duct from a DIY store is made from. It might last forever but it seems very flimsy.
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Head gasket on the Rover K series engines, reverse gear slelctor arm on Hillman imps !
bypass hose on early minis, 2nd synchros on triump 1300 FWD's & the flywheel rubber suppression inserts! ( who remembers fixing those ?) Morris minor & triump herald trunnions!
Triumph 2000 crankshaft thrust washers! amy as well of been made of plasticine & opel ascona water pumps & heater matrix's! to list just a few
THE TRIUMP STAG! the whole thing was fragile or was the Scimmitar GTE worse! difficult really. i don't remeber a single part that wasn't fragile
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Any retaining clip moulded as part of plastic trim.
Any folding or retractable cup holder.
Edited by Old Navy on 04/02/2010 at 22:17
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Plastic retaining clips on the central armrest opening lever in my '04 E class. Makes you wonder what the rest of the unseeen bits are like. Aforesaid lever fixed with Mr Black and Mr Decker, a self drilling screw and some adhesive. Now looking forward to seeing how long it holds!!
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>>Any folding or retractable cup holder.<<
I've just read the fabulously funny and vitriolic review of the Crossfire on the motoring writing thread which starts with the cup-holder and then really hits its stride.
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Indicator lever on the steering column of the original aircooled Beetle. About as strong as a plastic tea stirrer in a motorway cafe.
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I've known a lot of window winders on old or hard-used cars in the fifties and sixties get stiff and then break. Old rusty mechanisms down in the doors, seized cables, flimsy winder handle bending and coming apart in your hand, window stuck up or down, damn!
All the car user's fault of course. Bunch of idiots on average.
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Older Daewoos are chock-full of it. Far worse than other Eastern manufacturers.
Stalks that feel as if they will fall off in your hand. Plastic petrol filler doors with hinges made out of the same plastic you find on lollipop stalks. Door handles that feel as if they are flexing when you pull them. Some interior plastics feel as if they're the same stuff that £1 toys are made of. Bootlids that feel as if they're made of tinfoil and a plastic (PLASTIC!!!) accelerator pedal. On a car that isn't fly-by-wire.
All that said, they don't seem to actually break if our experience is anything to go by. In fact, the car has held together remarkably well, with the only rattles coming from the nasty aftermarket exhaust fitted because the original is no longer available.
The Far-East manufacturers seem to be very good at judging what is just enough to make a part durable. Daewoo at this stage though didn't seem to care about anything other than making the car durable, and if that meant that it felt completely undurable then so be it. The antithesis of a lot of other brands.
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Skoda Estelle heater hose.
It looked about as thick as a bicycle inner tube. I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did before it ballooned and emptied coolant over SWMBO's toes.
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The fag packet/coin tray things on the upper dash of the current Passat.
My current shape C5's outside door handles. When the doors were frozen shut this winter it felt like they would break off without too much trouble.
The Octavia door handles could cope with Geoff Capes pulling them. (if he could fit his hands round them to begin with)
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The bonnet release catch on my Partners Citroen C4
It?s the tiniest plastic handle, really thin piece of plastic as well that you have to pull to the right, away from the side of the car if you get it wrong (as I did, assuming that you pull it towards you) the cable will snap out of it.
Absolutely rubbish, the cable has already been re-attached to it by the dealer under warranty and I just know its going to cause a problem again
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