Video: Are today's washers made to break?

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Everything made after 2010 is designed to break and fail. There’s a big difference in the quality of appliances built in the 2000’s vs the 2010’s, same thing for cars. Technology has improved since the 2000’s but the quality and quality control has a bit to be desired since some things are broken right out of the box or develop problems soon after. 21st century engineering simply CANNOT compare to 20th century engineering and design.
 
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Everything has been made to break for years!
Appliances, cars, etc.
Lightbulbs where also made to break so the companies would get more sales and it worked!
I also think the little coupling in the whirlpool DD was something that was made to break so that people would throw it out and get a new machine but that’s just what I think.
 
I am pretty sure a majority of those Whirlpool VMW washers have gone to scrap in the 12 years they have been in production. Not really environmentally responsible to make disposable machines that can’t make it past 5+ years without major repairs or a complete overhaul. It takes A LOT of energy to process steel than it is to make appliances that will last 15 to 20+ years. Whirlpool should have continued making the direct drive washers since some of the VMW washers have the same EXACT capacity as the direct drives did.
 
Reply# 4

Of course the little coupling on a direct drive washer was designed as a weak point to break in order to protect the motor or gearcase from overload conditions. Although washers were thrown out for this failure and it was an inconvenience when it failed it was much better than the heavy duty version of the coupling which would not fail so it rounded the shaft on the motor, gearcase, or both instead of the coupling failing sending the machine to scrap for sure.
 
 
The DD motor coupler is equivalent to a belt.  Yes, people toss out machines for failed couplers for being alarmed at the unhealthy noises that may occur but it's as crazy to to do that as it is to trash a car for a bad battery.

The online parts source I typically use has couplers for $11.  Non-OEM items can be found for less than $8.

Melvin, are old-style couplers without the metal insert still available, as either OEM or non-?
 
It's easy to keep beating a dead horse, i.e. that modern machines are not as good as older ones. As this is an appliance site, members have more thoughts about appliances than the average consumer. I remember a fellow member telling here that a relative had bought a new house (we're talking mcmansion here, with a 5 car garage). When it was time to replace the washer he told his wife to go buy the cheapest washer available, which was a very basic toploader (IIRC a Kenmore with temperature settings in the timer) for $199.- back then.

A good quality machine like the ones of yesteryear would cost around $2500.- now. No regular consumer (not with a special interest in appliances) is going to fork out that kind of money for "just" a washing machine. A lot of regular consumers don't even know what brand their washer is.

Actually I think it is quite a miracle that manufacturers can make a machine that works for a reasonable amount of years for the prices they are getting for their products. For instance some members here speak highly of their Amana or Roper basic toploaders. $629.- for the Amana is around 25% of the price a really good machine would cost. A lot of consumers find that more than enough for a washing machine.

I think modern machines are not made to break, the margins are just too small for the manufacturers to make a machine that really lasts long. They are just selling what the market is asking for. So don't blame the manufacturers but the consumers.
 
well I started following these forums in 2005 when I bought my duet...and I can totally remember everyone saying (anything made today is JUNK) in 2005! In 2005, it had to be made in 60s 70s 80s or 90s...that anything made after 2000 was pretty much junk...

but that all being said....it's true...everything is cheapening...cutting corners...designed to fail...really good for the planet isn't it? Mandate it for energy and water usage so it's green...and hope it doesn't fall apart.. Makes total sense.
 
I work in a store that's half appliances and half grills - mostly Weber and Napoleon with a few other brands

I had a customer today who spent almost 1,800 Euros on some Napoleon grill. We don't even offer a washer that expensive and if we did, no one would pay that amount of money.

It's crazy to me how much money customers spend on these grills that are realistically used for maybe only 1/4 of the year. Similarly, people are willing to spend a little more on ovens. I guess it's because they actually <span style="text-decoration: underline;">want</span> to BBQ and eat. It's an enjoyable thing to do. Fancy coffee machines or food processors would also fall in that category.

But washers and dryers? Eww, yuck. That's a chore they want nothing to do with. So they gravitate towards the cheapest white box they can find that'll spin their clothes in a circle, while having great energy efficiency... because, well, energy needs to be saved. Never mind that gasoline is crazy expensive; people are still speeding down the highway like lunatics. But washing laundry, yeah, that's where the big savings are at. 🙄

 

Now, some customers will say that their old machine lasted 20 or 30 years. But it is generally accepted that their new purchase won't last as long. Maybe I should do an experiment and tell them to purchase a commercial machine for upwards of 2,000 Euros, which might last them that long again. But really, no one would do that. The vast, vast majority of people rather junk a cheap machine every so often that to make an investment in high quality. 🤷🏻‍♂️

To add to what Louis said about margins: well, by selling that one grill, I have probably generated more revenue than by selling ten washers. While a grill might have a margin of around 30% or more, appliances are usually around 5 to 10 % (if that).
 
Not all blame is on consumers...

Dont forget all companies have profit margins. Its they who are really to blame for cost cutting because of high union labor costs, high insurance costs, high property value costs, some states tax you on machinery as property plus inventory tax, high material costs, etc. Most of it stems from the high operating cost of them doing business at that particular location. Hence why they relocate in the first place to either Mexico or China because its cheap labor and no insurance plus sourcing cheap parts from China. Its been a long snow ball effect the last 50 years of everything going up in price to manufacture a product. Companies did what they had to to survive and compete. Decades ago it was to move down South, then Mexico, now its China. I imagine it was pretty inexpensive for Maytag to produce that cast iron bear of a trans in Newton many decades ago. It finally got cost prohibitive. To keep costs down and value high they should have sent the tooling elsewhere to make it just as good but still at their old costs scale. Same with other parts as well. Most stuff made in China is garbage, however I have seen stuff made in China for companies like Honda etc that are still built to a high standard in their own factories.
 
Yes, a washing machine should cost nothing and do it's job unseen. There is another side too, people who buy expensive kitchen appliances but never use them. Just to have them for showing off to their neighbours.

Yes, ofcourse companies have profit margins, if they didn't have them, they wouldn't be making appliances. For many years a lot of manufacturers were already buying parts from everywhere around the world. There used to be an appliance site where you could read about that. I think it was appliances.com, but not sure. That site doesn't exist anymore.
 
My two cents on this matter is that regardless of any statistical drop in durability of modern appliances, a lot of people here are viewing the past through VERY rose colored glasses. There is a reason why most laundry rooms around the world (well, I can only speak for Norway), don't have very old appliances, and that's because those appliances are long since broken and replaced. The ones that are still around are the rare survivors, just as you will find the odd modern appliance still alive in 25-30 years time. The real problem is the cost of repair, which is very high because of price gouging by manufacturers and the cost of labor, which is avoided during production because they're built in low cost countries, and production lines are automated to a large degree. The former can be addressed by right to repair legislation, the latter cannot.
 
 
As I've said several times, my family's January 1962 Whirlpool belt-drive had many repairs until it was replaced in June 1976 ... belt and wig-wag and pump (maybe more than once), bearings, mercury-capsule lid switch bracket rusted off, brush filter replaced (probably twice) due to wear-and-tear from frequent cleaning, motor centrifugal switch got sticky and sometimes wouldn't reset (particularly on low speed) for the next start, bakelite agitator cracked, possibly a tub leak occurred at some point (the local dealer, which is the one where I worked summers for several years, often used roofing tar to fix tub leaks).  Bad bearings again is what triggered the machine's replacement.
 
Reply #25

GE Filter Flo washer reliability was dubious at best, sometimes they could go for many years with no repairs or would need a major repair every 5 to 10 years. That’s why Whirlpool/Kenmore and Maytag were popular for many years since they didn’t need repairs all that often and yes the Whirlpool belt drive washers needed to be repaired every so often if it were the pump, belt, control magnet assembly aka wig wag but those repairs were guaranteed vs something like a GE Filter Flo washer since there could be oil or water leaks or a transmission failure. I’ve taken a Whirlpool belt drive transmission apart before, there’s heavy cast iron gears inside similar to a Maytag, only way a transmission can fail is if water gets inside and contaminates the oil but that only ever happened if the tub seal failed (which was rare) or the center post seals failed which happened on the later belt drive washers but almost never happened on the belt drives with the tall center post.
 
I don't think it's always unwillingness on the consumer's part to invest in long-lasting goods like they used to. I think in many cases they can't. It's true that if one adjusts for inflation the price of a washer back in the day would be in the $1000 range today, and that people were willing to pay that to get good performance and reliability in their home goods. However, the price of production has gone up. The price of labor has gone up. The price of quality goods has gone way up. Wages, however, have not risen to match, not by a long shot. So I think consumers are a lot of times forced to buy crap because a $500 washer is what they can afford, which was the case many years ago. In order to get quality goods to consumers, consumers need to be able to afford them. Wages can't stay stagnant forever or we won't be able to afford anything.
 
The mechanical tolerances were better in the mid to late 60’s and through the 70’s vs the 50’s and early 60’s. Oils in the 50’s and early 60’s weren’t all that great either which is why engines were a bit tired before reaching 100,000 miles and the engines themselves weren’t bad but the oils were. If they still made cars and engines like they did back then but since the oils have improved greatly since then, they’d easily would last to 150,000 or even 200,000 miles since oils and transmission fluids have improved greatly since then.
 

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