“The problem with the rust issue is that it’s not confined to any one make. Down here in OK we’ve seen many northern cars of all makes and models that were absolutely rusted to oblivion even at 5 or 6 years of age.”
YUP…I agree many vehicles of all manufacturers rust out early…but this particular vehicle rusted out far sooner then any other vehicle…2-3 years and upper front fenders near the windshield start rusting out…by year 4 their rust through. Happened to all darts/dusters/volare’s (name the version).
And as bad as it was…the earlier Toyota’s and Nissan’s rusted out MUCH MUCH faster.
I can confirm that (Toyotas, anyway)…had a '79 Corolla…by '88 it had so much rust on the doors I literally just cut off the bottom 6" (or so), and welded sheet metal there. Floorboards on both sides had plates welded in, trunk, I finally had to junk it in '92 because I couldn’t weld anything more onto it. Sills were gone by that time.
That blasted engine was still running strong, though.
At least rustproofing methods have gotten better quite a bit over the last few decades with improved metal coating techniques and the use of factory applied undercoating.
Way back when (40 years ago, etc) selling undercoating on a new car was a pretty universal thing and would actually do some good at least.
Now if the state legislatures would run the salt lobbyists off some real rust prevention might occur.
We get some bad winter weather here in OK (ice being the big nasty usually) so salt use is pretty limited in comparison to other areas. Rust is also not nearly the problem that it is elsewhere.
A couple of years ago my oldest son and I were coming back from KS and a couple of car transports were beside us. My son was driving and per the usual I got to looking the vehicles over. They were a mixed bag of 4/5 year old SUVs/small pickups and all had MN license plates. (About 2/3 Ford/Chevys, the rest Nissans/Toyotas)
Those cars all looked near new at first glance but as I got to looking between the rails of the trailers I noted that every single one of those vehicles was rusted to oblivion around the rear quarters and rear wheel wells.
With several of the pickups it appeared that atmospheric pressure and rust flakes was the only thing keeping what was left of the beds on the trucks.
Sadly, those vehicles all wound up in the possession of new owners in OK or TX after 20 pounds of plastic, cheap paint, and no pre-purchase inspection.
