The Mustang Interior Parts – Plastic parts where metal should be

Nowadays cars are using less, and less metal on the interior of cars, and more plastic. If you think about it, it does make sense due to the fact that plastic is much lighter than metal, and will get your car better fuel milage due to the less weight you have to lug around. There was a time, even as late as the vintage Mustang days, when cars were built like tanks practically. Back in the late 1930′s, and throught the 1940′s 1950′s, and most of the 1960′s, car interiors especially were using much more metal on interior parts like dashboards, steering wheels, and even a tissue box that was a factory option for some models that were all metal.

I believe this to be an area of debate. Each one metal, or plastic does have it’s pros, and cons. One thing good thing about mostly plastic is that you do get a little better gas mileage due to less weight, and also it is cheaper to manufacture an automobile that has more plastic than metal parts on it. Also plastic (unlike metal) doesn’t rust. However, on the flip side of that coin is that small plastic parts do have a tendancey to break more easily than metal parts. Parts like sunvisor clips, power steering pump dipsticks, holes where screws are supposed to go in the plastic part of dashboards can split and break, as well as two plastic pieces that have a metal hinge, and metal screws can easily break. If the plastic piecses aren’t strong enough to hold together like they should.

To my next point about the way cars used to be built, in decades past, the driver would have to bear the brunt of an auto accedent, where as now the cars are built so that they are built to absorb the accedent instead of the occupents. However the only drawback to this is that it does up your repair bill by a lot more, since the car is far more damaged than you are. But in the grander scheme of things, I guess it beats having  expensive medical bills, and different forms of chronic pain to deal with the rest of your life. The safety guide on cars now are very inportant to tell you what would be best for the safety of your family, and what your specific needs are. Remembering who is going to be using the car, what is for? Questions like that, that need to be answered.

Yes, those plastic parts can be annoying to replace, esspecially when the dealer doesen’t have it in stock because it’s a “non-stock item” or some other bit of bogus information (charging through the nose doesn’t help either). These plastic parts for the most part, don’t break that often. I’ts just a hassel when they do. Again, I’m not so die hard for nostalga, that I think plastic shouldn’t be used, but manufacters need to use thier heads a little more often, and not use plastic parts where metal should be used, and vice versa. In certain areas, those little plastic parts that constantly seem to break does get annoying after a while.

-Simon Black

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