A result of the push for big SUVs

[Old Crank]

19. The average car on the road is now 12 years

HArdly throw away now. I remember people inthe 60's would trade in every 2 years, 30,000 miles, because that was when things started to fail. Alternators, starters, water pumps. etc. Now drive trains and their bits seem to easily reach 100,000k. Cars last much longer these days on average. The advertizing pushed people to buy a new one becasue of styling of fancy features.

You are right about heating/cooling parts in cabin. Many need to remove the dashboard to replace.

Prius we sold to our house mates when we left the US just died 8 years later and a couple of hundred thousand miles. Not the drive train. Suspension and ancillary parts for the inteior AC/heating. In most cases it makes more economic sense to replace rather than buy new, especially with the cost of new.