Built in obsolescence.

Another of my odd posts. Just recently we seem to have had a spate of coil packs failing across the forum which could and probably is a coincidence but given recent observations about other vehicles having some kind of failure in a common time frame it has got me wondering. Is there any commonality between the coil pack failures we have seen such as a certain age of car or a given mileage? It might be interesting to tally up the common failures with the age and mileage and see if there is a correlation?

Funny you should mention this...

About to change mine and spark plugs to try and fix an intermittent stutter under speed,,,

Mine’s a 55 plate with ~87k on the clock

It's an interesting subject.
However it's not just a Suzuki Jimny thing. Son's Corsa eats coil packs, the only make that work with any certainty are Bosch.
With this in mind it may be worth asking if the packs that have failed are known to be original, or have they already been replaced by a previous owner, if so OEM or any make?
I cant offer you my failed feedback just yet, but my 2009 OEM packs, never replaced, 55K and still good. I will also add it's never overheated, 100% on road use and standard configuration.

Does Off-road use or modification increase under bonnet temperature, increasing strain on these components?
They are mounted in the worse place possible for heat.

Just thinking.
Mike

Interestingly it’s my daily driver that’s got the problem? S200KYS has been off-roading for 5 years at least once a month and never misses a beat (hope I haven’t jinxed it!,)

I replaced mine at about 75k. But it was more of a general point. I have been hearing tell of VW's producing open circuit faults on injectors and needing 2000 quid plus repairs and the inference is that they are somehow programmed to do this so that people come back to the dealership to find a salesperson with an offer on a new car ready and waiting for a 300 quid deposit etc etc. I'm not just saying it's only coil packs more anything computer controlled.

Ah ok, see what you mean.
Yes, I sort of feel thats a possibility in light of all the "software" issues around emissions. It's very easy to do within the software and many manufacturers are making the cars that contact the dealership for you in the event of a problem or service.
Helping the consumers or helping themselves?

I have seen possible examples of this in the PC world. Epson printers with a " counter " that generates a fault to stop the printer, Norton advising successful protection from Internet born attacks, on a machine not connected to the internet or outside world!

Re Jimny - fairly sure this is just a component failing, even my humble 2CV has coil "pack" issues fixed with an upgrade coil. No ECU or software on a 2CV. I suspect it more an issue of Heat Cycles, ie multiple start / stop journeys, as the repeated temperature change eventually fatigues the component. It's I bit like repeatedly bending a bar, eventually it will snap.