[epgui]

The point is that they have much fewer of them, not that they have none.

Not having to withstand thousands of explosions per minute (whatever RPM the engine is turning at, times the number of pistons in the engine) as a requirement is an extreme advantage.

[cityofdelusion]

Modern combustion engines are very robust and usually not any significant source of failure. Cars on the verge of being scrapped have everything else wrong — rust, suspension, ac lines, electronics, locks, windows, lights, etc etc.

[Spooky23]

Engine failure is a non-event. Since efficiency and emissions standards raised the bar on engine design and tolerances, even the cheapest engine is reliable.

Hell, I bought a lawn mower that had a 5 year warranty that the mower would start on the first pull.

[epgui]

I had a 2006 Cadillac CTS that had to get the engine rebuilt (btw, very comfortable cars, but they're basically garbage made out of styrofoam). I know it's infrequent, but it happens.

And either way, the issue isn't just with the engine-- having an ICE means you need to make a bunch of design choices you wouldn't otherwise have made, you're forced to use certain materials over others, you're forced to account for all sorts of material stress and vibrations, your centre of mass is quite high, you have a lot of weight on the front tires, etc etc. All of these other problems more or less come with the engine.

There's also transmission and gearbox design, etc.

[Spooky23]

Sure. My sister had a defective Subaru that was a similar story. I believe that car had 3 engines due to some issue with that model year.

Those are the exceptions that prove the rule. They are rare and more indicators of process failures than some fundamental engineering problem.

[dylan604]

Mine was first or second, so they kind of padded themselves in the marketing. The only time I've had it take more than 1 or 2 was when I needed to clean the fuel line. After that, right back to 1 or 2. It's now 8 years old

[coryrc]

Gasoline in engines deflagrates, it does not detonate.

[epgui]

That may be, but does it change anything I said?