Plastic proliferation under the hood

Plastic components continue to displace metal engine parts because of cost and weight advantages.

While some of us may have concluded plastic's role is to torment us with impenetrable and jagged-edged packaging meant to maim us, it turns out that the material does have more appealing uses.

Plastic has proliferated into seemingly every aspect of our lives, displacing cardboard from box packaging, paper from grocery bags, and wood cabinetry from consumer electronics. Even so, it must have surely seemed that sturdy parts like engine components would remain metal.