Recently, BMW's plastic oil pan and plastic anti-roll rod linkage on the Internet have been suspected of cutting corners. Many car bloggers and car critics have expressed their views on this matter, and also let the melon-eating masses watch a hilarity.
But which is right and which is wrong, it seems that the Internet is divided into two factions, and no one obeys the other. So, is it BMW unscrupulously sneaking down? Or are some people overreacting?
In fact, when the car first began to develop, the materials used in the car were very different from those used now, from the earliest large-scale use of wood to the later large-scale use of metal.
With the development of the times and the advancement of materials, in order to further improve the performance of automobiles, a large number of aluminum alloys began to be used, and then to later plastics, composite materials, in fact, in a sense, the top carbon fiber materials are also a kind of plastic.
That is to say, from the perspective of research and development, the most ideal way is of course to find ways to increase performance and reduce costs, the so-called cost reduction and efficiency. Being able to achieve comparable or better performance at a lower cost is naturally good.
On the other hand, plastic, in fact, the proportion of plastic on the body is getting larger and larger, like some of the body's non-forced coverings, such as fenders, some car companies have also begun to use composite materials or plastics to achieve weight reduction.
In recent years, with the application of new materials, oil pans of new plastic materials such as ethane, nylon, and phenolic resin have emerged. Compared with the metal oil pan, many people think that the plastic oil pan is worse in impact resistance, deformation resistance and service life, but subjective does not represent objective facts.
Theoretically, it is not rigorous to put aside the thickness of the material, the performance of the structure and the material itself compared with the advantages and disadvantages of the two materials.
For example, although the aluminum alloy material has advantages in terms of quality and corrosion resistance, under the same performance requirements, the thickness is more than that of steel.
This is also why the all-aluminum body does not seem to have greatly reduced the weight of the car, but thermoformed steel can better reduce weight while achieving better body strength, and some racing cars or supercars, also abandon the aluminum alloy, the use of molybdenum chrome alloy. At this time, do you still feel that not using aluminum alloys is a kind of unscrupulous performance?
However, BMW did get caught this time, that is, there is indeed an oil leakage phenomenon in the plastic oil pan. That is to say, BMW's innovation is obviously a bit of a failure.
However, BMW did not, as some views suggest, after discovering this defect, BMW made improvements. Yes, some of the views that the plastic oil pan engine is the N20 engine, which has been discontinued for many years, and on some xDrive models, in order to improve the strength of the front axle differential in the four-wheel drive system, the aluminum-magnesium alloy oil pan has also been replaced, and the B48 has since fully restored the use of the aluminum-magnesium oil pan.
In fact, the plastic oil pan is not only an attempt by BMW, it is worth mentioning that this is not a BMW patent, and some car companies are actually using it.
Many people may see this and say, since there is a problem, won't car companies do durability tests? Why is it still available if there is a problem?
From the perspective of research and development, the development of various systems and parts is mutually cooperative, in the test of engineering prototypes, limited by the test environment, conditions, years and materials, some problems are not necessarily exposed in the test, many of which are constantly optimized and upgraded.
For example, Volkswagen's DSG dual-clutch transmission, at the beginning of the market, in addition to showing excellent performance, also exposed various problems of instability, but over time, continuous improvement and learning lessons, and finally became the leader in the dual-clutch transmission.
So we often hear that after the model is listed, the car company will recall the relevant products, for the design and development, excess design or reasonable design, are also related to the environment and conditions at that time, it is indeed more complicated.
Speaking of BMW this time, in fact, it is better to say that consumers have overreacted, that BMW has indeed not reasonably solved the problems left over from history, for car companies, it is more about innovating at the same time, but also to protect the interests of consumers as much as possible.
For consumers, improving the perception of vehicles and not being biased by the rhythm is also the driving force for us to continue to learn.