An engineering friend told me that Erope and Germany have banned the use of tin/lead solder in elecronic circuits (the so called “RoH” initiative. He told me that the new solders (which cannot contain lead) do not have the same reliability as the old tin/lead solders, and that after many cysles of high/low temperature, the solder joints are liable to fail (become open). Is this true? Are buyers of German-made cars in for a lot of grief, a few years down the road?
Or is this an exaggeration? :eek:
I will say that I’ve heard quite a few VW owners bitch about the electronics on their cars.
As far as Porsche, Mercedes and BMW go… no input.
Connections at the harness are the most likely point of failure. Either where the harness connects to a component, or a connector between harnesses.
Harness connectors are crimped, not soldered. Solder is used inside electronic control units.
I am unaware of any program to eliminate lead from the solder that is used in European cars.
I will ask a few people and see what I can find out.
It’s not limited to German cars. Vibration can cause premature failure of lead-free soldered joints.
There appear to be five primary problems with lead-free:
• Tin whiskers
• Kirkendall voiding
• Mechanical shock of Pb-free solder
• Thermal cycling of Pb-free solder
• Conductive anodic filaments
For more info, see this page.
I don’t know about electronics specifically, but European car makers have been having quality-control problems lately. European cars now rank behind American and Japanese cars in quality surveys.
Forgot to say that failures of lead-free solder joints is not a terribly new problem. In something like a DVD player that sits still forever, vibration’s not going to be a huge issue, but vibration will obviously be an issue in a car.
Tin whiskers aren’t a new problem, either. At least three commercial space satellites have been rendered completely unusable by whiskers. NASA has a website devoted to the tin whisker phenomenon.
For whatever reason, lead seems to slow down the growth of tin whiskers, so its removal from solder appears to have created as many problems as its removal would claim to prevent.
Porche = Volkswagen + $. Mercedes and BMW have been having serious quality control problems for years. That’s why Lexus, Acura and Infinity are eating their lunch and it was easy for them to carve out their market share.
Mercedes is the oldest car maker in the world and always commanded a premium price. Lexus came out of nowhere and is now outselling Mercedes and BMW. There is one reason. . . Quality. A satisfied Mercedes or BMW owner is someone in denial.
Eh? This statement is a peculiar hybrid of anecdotal evidence and wider statistics. Quality control issues do not mean every single car owner has had issues. If an owner has had no issues whatsoever, and is satisfied with the purchase, where is the denial? Are you suggesting that they in fact did have issues, but hallucinated everything working fine? 
Given the mental gymnastics which I’ve seen some of these owners go through that I’ve met to justify their purchase in spite of serious problems, I’m inclined to agree with Spartydog’s assessment.
I have heard that the lead-free solders have two big problems:
-they are brittle and prone to crack after many cycle of hot/cold temperatures
-they are processed at higher temperatures and that damages some components
Another big problem is the fact that all of the vehicles funstions are controlled by modules, many of which perform multiple funstions. So if your Air conditioning fails, your fan may likely not work as well. Those modules are sealed and non-repairable-and they cost$$ :smack:
It’s a sorry state that luxury automobiles are in. BMW has gotten too cocky and thinks that they can slap the kidneys on any hunk of metal and have it look good. Wrong - the new 3 series looks awful. The new Audis are bulky as hell and look unaerodynamic and awkward. Meanwhile Lexus offers up a Camry with a nicer interior and another generic sluglike SUV-thing. Only the new Acuras look decent.
It’s like car designers have forgotten how to…design the damn cars.
Spartydog,
I am in LOVE with Mercedes.
Had I the money, I’d have one in a heartbeat.
I realize the maintenance schedule and breakdown costs might approach the cost of a fixed-wing aircraft on some models, but IF I could afford another Benz it would be worth it.
The feel, the ergonomics, the experience… it makes my eyes water thinking about it, and I’m a little sad every day that I can’t really afford one.
I’m tempted about once every 3 months to buy a 15-yr-old unpopular Mercedes model, just to get the taste in my mouth again, but I know that I couldn’t afford the repairs, and I HATE having auto downtime spent in rental cars.
German cars have been rated poorly in reliability these last 5 or so years, whereas they used to get the highest rating.
Then you will LOVE this review by the NY Times of the new Mercedes S-class.
I posted this link in another thread but some review are worth another look. It’s very entertaining.