Survivorship bias—Of a production line—the older things of a run that died in 6 months, don’t exist 10-20 years later. The fridge that is still working 20 years later survived therefore we know about it, it’s still around “going strong”. And “they don’t make them like this any more”. Most of those early broken products don’t get recorded or remembered.
Specifically on washing machines: They would usually have at least 5 years warranty. Warranties keep the standards up, because if they break in that time the manufacturer needs to repair or replace them.
There are two kinds of fool. One says, “This is old, therefore it is good.” The other says, “This is new, therefore it is better.” https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Ralph_Inge
I want to raise this:
Survivorship bias—Of a production line—the older things of a run that died in 6 months, don’t exist 10-20 years later. The fridge that is still working 20 years later survived therefore we know about it, it’s still around “going strong”. And “they don’t make them like this any more”. Most of those early broken products don’t get recorded or remembered.
Specifically on washing machines: They would usually have at least 5 years warranty. Warranties keep the standards up, because if they break in that time the manufacturer needs to repair or replace them.