Toyota Will Adopt Tesla-Style Cast Bodies That Might Be Impossible to Fix
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Re: Toyota Will Adopt Tesla-Style Cast Bodies That Might Be Impossible to Fix
#2“cast bodies might be more difficult to fix in the event of major damage, such as a crash.”
Raise your hand if you’ve ever had a car NOT be written off after “major damage”. The industry already doesn’t bother to fix cars, they just get scrapped, so I don’t see what the actual difference is.
Re: Toyota Will Adopt Tesla-Style Cast Bodies That Might Be Impossible to Fix
#3Cast metals are rather brittle, normally? Good for complex shapes that may be further refined by machining, and in compression loads, but not in shear or tension. I would think they would shatter in a collision rather than bend like steel.
Re: Toyota Will Adopt Tesla-Style Cast Bodies That Might Be Impossible to Fix
#4“cast bodies might be more difficult to fix in the event of major damage, such as a crash.” Raise your hand if you’ve ever had a car NOT be written off after “major damage”. The industry already doesn’t bother to fix cars, they just get scrapped, so I don’t see what the actual difference is.
That the car is written off doesnt mean it gets scrapped though. It usually gets auctioned, and if its fixable, some mechanic can buy it for peanuts and put it back on the market.
Re: Toyota Will Adopt Tesla-Style Cast Bodies That Might Be Impossible to Fix
#5“cast bodies might be more difficult to fix in the event of major damage, such as a crash.” Raise your hand if you’ve ever had a car NOT be written off after “major damage”. The industry already doesn’t bother to fix cars, they just get scrapped, so I don’t see what the actual difference is.
Yeah I feel like this is the next stepping stone on a path we have been on for years. I remember Rich Rebuilds got rear ended in his Rivian and the total repair bill was somewhere around $30K if I remember right. I really do wish repairability was considered more not less, but with safety standards, manufacturing costs, etc it seems like cars are racing towards the cliff of just “discarding” if they have a problem just like the rest of consumer goods
Re: Toyota Will Adopt Tesla-Style Cast Bodies That Might Be Impossible to Fix
#6“cast bodies might be more difficult to fix in the event of major damage, such as a crash.” Raise your hand if you’ve ever had a car NOT be written off after “major damage”. The industry already doesn’t bother to fix cars, they just get scrapped, so I don’t see what the actual difference is.
There are body shops all over town here repairing collision damage every day. Yes a major crash is a write off especially on an older car, but the problem is that with cast frames, if they are more likely to be irreparably damaged in a collision, that's more write-offs. That means insurance premiums for these cars will be more costly as well.
Re: Toyota Will Adopt Tesla-Style Cast Bodies That Might Be Impossible to Fix
#7“cast bodies might be more difficult to fix in the event of major damage, such as a crash.” Raise your hand if you’ve ever had a car NOT be written off after “major damage”. The industry already doesn’t bother to fix cars, they just get scrapped, so I don’t see what the actual difference is.
Yeah I feel like this is the next stepping stone on a path we have been on for years. I remember Rich Rebuilds got rear ended in his Rivian and the total repair bill was somewhere around $30K if I remember right. I really do wish repairability was considered more not less, but with safety standards, manufacturing costs, etc it seems like cars are racing towards the cliff of just “discarding” if they have a problem ju…
With Cars I do believe there's a tradeoff between repair ability and crash safety to some degree. The Chassis has to deform to take the crash energy away from the passenger and the more it deforms the more energy gets absorbed.
Re: Toyota Will Adopt Tesla-Style Cast Bodies That Might Be Impossible to Fix
#8“cast bodies might be more difficult to fix in the event of major damage, such as a crash.” Raise your hand if you’ve ever had a car NOT be written off after “major damage”. The industry already doesn’t bother to fix cars, they just get scrapped, so I don’t see what the actual difference is.
They don’t always get scrapped - they often get sent out to another country, sold at a discount, fixed there.
Re: Toyota Will Adopt Tesla-Style Cast Bodies That Might Be Impossible to Fix
#9“cast bodies might be more difficult to fix in the event of major damage, such as a crash.” Raise your hand if you’ve ever had a car NOT be written off after “major damage”. The industry already doesn’t bother to fix cars, they just get scrapped, so I don’t see what the actual difference is.
Yeah I feel like this is the next stepping stone on a path we have been on for years. I remember Rich Rebuilds got rear ended in his Rivian and the total repair bill was somewhere around $30K if I remember right. I really do wish repairability was considered more not less, but with safety standards, manufacturing costs, etc it seems like cars are racing towards the cliff of just “discarding” if they have a problem ju…
With EVs this problem is getting a lot worse. In latest-gen EVs the battery pack is a stressed member of the frame. Any type of collision that distorts the frame will also imply a deformation of the battery module, which means instant write-off.
So if you think about it - if you first decide you need to go down the "structural battery" route to save cost and weight, you've already lost repairability if the frame is bent. Then moving to a cast frame doesn't really change anything.
Re: Toyota Will Adopt Tesla-Style Cast Bodies That Might Be Impossible to Fix
#10I'm not sure how it is currently but when I was working in the gigafactory like a year ago they had such a hard time making the cast unibody they just gave up and switched back to making Model Y's the traditional way.