Why Did Automotive Manufacturers Switch To Plastic Oil Pans?

Have you ever noticed that a growing number of contemporary automobile parts are made up of plastic? Your grandpa is just not lying when he says that they do not make ’em like they used to. The plastic content in cars increased by 16% from 2012 to 2021, in response to a 2023 report by the American Chemistry Council. Which means that just about 411 kilos of a contemporary vehicle’s weight is plastic. While this makes up roughly 10% of the full weight of a automobile on average, this also accounts for nearly 50% of the full volume of the vehicle. So, the term “plastic incredible” is sensible when describing a up to date automobile. 

Still, automobile manufacturers didn’t just switch to plastic parts for fun, and the variety of this material utilized in cars is just not the identical because the one utilized for water bottles. As an alternative, these pans are sometimes made up of a fiber-reinforced polyamide resin that weighs much lower than the same old alternative of die-cast aluminum.

In a world of ever-tightening emissions standards, automakers are using plastic to make vehicles lighter and more fuel-efficient. A lighter automobile means the engine can burn less fuel to maneuver the vehicle, which, in turn, reduces emissions while improving your automobile’s fuel economy. It is also why the engine bay of a typical automobile is a colossal mess of plastic parts. 

The Peugeot 508 was among the many first cars to make use of a plastic oil pan, which was developed by the Singapore-based company DSM Engineering Plastics. The brand new sump was 60% lighter than the unique metal pan, not to say less expensive to make. Still, weight reduction is only a small portion of why plastic is making its way into our rides. It’s much easier to integrate other automobile parts, corresponding to the oil drain plug, sensors, attachment points, and clips, into the resin material used to make these pans. Furthermore, plastic oil pans are immune to stone and gravel impacts, and their highly flexible molding helps reduce engine noise, vibration, and harshness. Overall, switching to plastic pans is a win-win situation for carmakers and owners alike. Still, the swap has just a few downsides value mentioning.

The complete automotive industry has an comprehensible love for plastic, but specific cars should not a desirable match for a polyamide pan. For instance, plastic pans should not the perfect alternative for racing vehicles. Sure, a lighter automobile could make its way across the track faster, but forged aluminum alloy dissipates heat higher than plastic, which implies it offers higher engine performance than pans created from polyamide. As well as, molded plastic tends to insulate and hold more heat, and it might melt or warp when consistently exposed to heat soak – even in case your radiator fan stays on.

In case you determine to decide on a automobile with a plastic oil pan, know that you just don’t need to exchange the whole plastic oil pan when giving your automobile an oil change. (Unless the sump is leaking or has visible cracks). It also helps to be conscientious when screwing the drain plug of a plastic oil pan back on during an oil change, since over-tightening may cause damage or oil leaks. Adore it or hate it, plastics in cars will turn into more prevalent with advancing technologies in polyamide resins. Whether that is a very good or bad thing is up for debate.