# Car fuses; why do we have them?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-fuses-why-do-we-have-them/248726>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [June 4, 2004, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-fuses-why-do-we-have-them/248726 "2004-06-04T23:10:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Binarydrone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Binarydrone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Binarydrone)\
**Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-fuses-why-do-we-have-them/248726/1 "2004-06-04T23:10:59Z")

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So, this is something that I have been wondering about for a while. Why do cars still have fuses that one has to replace when they get burned out? We know about breakers and breaker switches at this point. Obviously, I am not a mechanic but I have been bothered by this for a while. Thoughts?

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**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\
**Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-fuses-why-do-we-have-them/248726/2 "2004-06-04T23:24:27Z")

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Fuses are cheaper than breakers. That’s it, basically. Every other reason in favor of fuses is “gravy” as the automakers will multiply a 50-cent savings per car by all the cars they make and see a sizable amount saved.

Fuses are also tiny, compared to breakers.

Beyond that, cheap fuses tend to blow faster than cheap circuit breakers. There’s a lot of 18-gage (or so) wire in a car, and the primary power source is capable of dumping a few hundred amps into a short. You want fast-blowing fuses to protect slow-melting wire.

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**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\
**Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-fuses-why-do-we-have-them/248726/3 "2004-06-04T23:37:17Z")

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…and if the wire is big enough, it can have an arch powerful enough to weld the metal in your car, or set it ablaze all together. Fuse good.

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**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\
**Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-fuses-why-do-we-have-them/248726/4 "2004-06-05T02:59:41Z")

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Question: How do you make a million dollars in the car business?  
Answer: Save a buck a car and build a milion of them.  
Any other questions?