kluger oil filter - an origami

[kwach10]

In case you have not looked yet, from Kluger/Aurion onwards, Toyota have followed the lead of some Germans and the oil filter is now an insert - basically a bit of origami (http://dev.origami.com/diagram.cfm).

A similar case for an air filter element, though this time its flat and frame-less.

One would expect a major "environmental" applause for that move, but media are silent about that, and I did not see Toyota trumpeting it either.

Instead, they push nonsensical overall benefits of the hybrid technology, as do others with similar designs.

Have a look at what a certain driving expert had to say about the latest Honda offering:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/j...icle6294116.ece

Considering the cost of materials and manufacturing complexity of standard filters, and transportation costs, one would expect a major price benefit.

Hope is .... <_<

[Hiro]

In case you have not looked yet, from Kluger/Aurion onwards, Toyota have followed the lead of some Germans and the oil filter is now an insert - basically a bit of origami (http://dev.origami.com/diagram.cfm).

A similar case for an air filter element, though this time its flat and frame-less.

One would expect a major "environmental" applause for that move, but media are silent about that, and I did not see Toyota trumpeting it either.

Instead, they push nonsensical overall benefits of the hybrid technology, as do others with similar designs.

Have a look at what a certain driving expert had to say about the latest Honda offering:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/j...icle6294116.ece

Considering the cost of materials and manufacturing complexity of standard filters, and transportation costs, one would expect a major price benefit.

Hope is .... <_<

Wait, you're complaining that there hasn't been enough lip-service paid to cartridge-style oil filters? Which have been around in Beetles for decades?

And I'd love to see how they are _so_ much cheaper and better for the environment, if anything they'd be more expensive because there isn't as big a market for them yet as normal screw-on filters.

Edited May 18, 2009 by Hiro Protagonist

[kwach10]

Not complaining just stating obvious!

This ain't your Beetle/Lucas-style cartridge-type filter - have look before making an assumption.

If folded, it will fit in a 20 cigarette box.

1. What has a limited but captive market to do with major savings in the cost and complexity of the manufacture??? Particularly, as there is no alternative for these cars, and the car manufacturer controls the supply until major re-tooling of after market competitors. In fact, every filter will be sold by Toyota probably for years to come. As the Toyota fleet is renewed Ryco and others will face a major challenge with obsolete lines of parts.

2. So you can't see how making and then scraping/damping 1000s of tons of steel will effect the environment???

[Hiro]

Not complaining just stating obvious!

This ain't your Beetle/Lucas-style cartridge-type filter - have look before making an assumption.

If folded, it will fit in a 20 cigarette box.

Is it not safe to assume it is still the same concept though, right? The concept of a replaceable filter element without a casing which been around for quite a while? This is just a development, not re-inventing the wheel - it's like saying that the current Barra motor in the Falcon is related to the original Falcon 250 Crossflow. It's still an engine, which burns petrol to make rotational energy by means of cylinders and a crank shaft, but along the way things have incrementally changed and advances have been made, but the concept is the same

1. What has a limited but captive market to do with major savings in the cost and complexity of the manufacture??? Particularly, as there is no alternative for these cars, and the car manufacturer controls the supply until major re-tooling of after market competitors. In fact, every filter will be sold by Toyota probably for years to come. As the Toyota fleet is renewed Ryco and others will face a major challenge with obsolete lines of parts.

Sure, new cars might be using this new style of filter, but probably 90% of the cars older than 3-5 years still use the old style screw-on filter, especially Japanese ones (Euros are a bit different). This means that most of the cars out on the road will need screw-on filters come service time, so both OEM and aftermarket companies are obliged to keep making and stocking screw-on filters - the cartridge style will remain a minority for a long time. Aftermarket companies will be less inclined to start producing a product for a minority of vehicles, and for those that do take it up tooling costs are pretty much the same whether you are making 10 or 10-thousand, so the cost-per filter will be compartively higher unless the intrinsic cost of the filter is significantly less (and filters are pretty damn cheap these days anyway)

2. So you can't see how making and then scraping/damping 1000s of tons of steel will effect the environment???

And that steel (or alloy) can be recycled and re-used (personally I keep my oil filters and recycle them at the yearly Council Chemical Waste collection, which takes the used oil and containers too). Using that logic, why aren't all cars made from fibreglass, thus saving the environment from exponentially more tonnes of steel and alloy being made (how many oil filters do you reckon a car body is worth?)

I'm not saying that the cartridge style is better or worse than the traditional screw-on kind, but as long as the screw-on kind remains the predominant style of filter in the OEM and aftermarket community, and they cost peanuts, you won't find car manufacturers trumpeting about the "latest and greatest", because frankly it doesn't matter that much, and the community doesn't care.