US EditionPublished • loading... • Updated
6 lost car maintenance skills everyone had in the 60s and 70s, but most drivers today lack
Technological advances and longer-lasting parts have reduced the need for basic car maintenance skills, with over half of drivers unable to change a tyre, RAC reports.
- Drivers who learned car maintenance in the 1960s and 1970s commonly handled 1 task—replacing/adjusting distributor points, cleaning carburettors, changing spark plugs, tyres, batteries, or oil, but these skills have largely vanished today.
- Manufacturers switched to electronic ignition and fuel injection, replacing distributors and carburettors, while design improvements like run‑flat tyres made routine maintenance less frequent.
- Carburettor cleaning used to reveal problems via black smoke or popping, while recent surveys find Gen Z motorists less confident replacing batteries and preferring professional garages.
- Many motorists now call in professionals for basic upkeep, outsourcing routine work like oil changes to garages and missing potential savings from DIY maintenance.
- Some older drivers lament the skills gap and recall that baby boomers observe younger drivers lack mechanical skills, while others accept this cultural shift as inevitable and do not miss hands-on winter repairs.
Insights by Ground AI
19 Articles
19 Articles
Coverage Details
Total News Sources19
Leaning Left1Leaning Right0Center13Last UpdatedBias Distribution93% Center
Bias Distribution
- 93% of the sources are Center
93% Center
C 93%
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
