My 1987 Ford Tempo had the glovebox door that fell off every time you hit a pothole

I was driving through downtown Akron back in 2017 when I hit a manhole cover and the whole thing just dropped into my lap. The plastic hinge pins they used were maybe 2mm thick, completely undersized for a 3,000 pound car. Has anyone else dealt with interior bits that were designed to fail on purpose?

2 comments

2 Comments

stellac9713d ago

2mm pins on a 3000lb car? That's just asking for trouble.

ruby_foster9313d ago

Hang on, have you actually seen the engineering behind those pins? I've worked on a few builds where the shear strength of a 2mm pin in high-grade steel is way higher than people give it credit for. It's not just about the thickness, it's the material and the fitment too. If the pin is properly heat-treated and the hole is precision-drilled, it can handle a lot more than you'd think. I get the initial reaction, but sometimes the math works out even when it looks scary. A lot of folks just assume bigger is always better without looking at the actual load calculations.