Have emailed a big car company, a classic vehicle organization, click and clack, asked around, searched the web, but have been unable to find a survival curve for an automobile make or model. Ideally I could find data showing for say 200 cars bought at the same time, of the same model, how many were still registered. This would be a graph with number remaining on the y-axis and time on the x-axis. I realize there would be complications, such as putting in a new engine into car, but as long as the methods are stated explicitly, I don’t think that’s a problem. Would anyone know where this information could be found? It would seem quite valuble for used car buyers to know the half life of various models, which could be found without waiting for the last car of that type to be junked. I would settle for a survival curve for any complicated piece of equipment (computers?). Have been thinking of generating the data myself, over the next twenty years, but am not sure of how to do that either.
The manufacturers are not going to have a lot of data tabulated like you describe. They really don’t care what happens to their products once the warranty expires. There have been ads making claims about longevity based on vehicle registration records, but that wouldn’t provide any way to differentiate which cars had been subjected to major mechanical repairs. Owners’(enthusiasts’) clubs won’t be very objective in many cases. How many TR7 freaks are going to admit that their cars are pieces of sh*t?
If you break down and accept registration data, your state vehicle registration agency would be the first place to ask but be prepared to jump through some hoops to get the data.
I believe Consumer Reports charts dependability data in their car issue, based on subscriber surveys, but it’s not in a graph.