Why lead free solder sucks...
Oh man, are you just about to get egg on your face, smugly claiming this as a lead-free fail.
That device was made with
leaded solder. How do I know?
1. It was built in 2002, years before the RoHS restrictions went into effect.
2. Automotive electronics are exempt from RoHS.
Now, while the wholesale move of non-exempt electronics to lead-free has had the result of many exempt electronics being made lead-free anyway, car manufacturers are notoriously conservative, and wouldn’t have jumped on board so early.
What it proves is that automobiles are a challenging environment for electronics. The failure mode shown is precisely why the passives manufacturers now make chip passives with flexible contact ends, so that board flex, vibration, and thermal cycling don’t cause the joints to fracture.
And yeah, I still prefer leaded solder where I can use it, and I still think the RoHS restriction on lead in solder was the wrong decision. But it’s not proving to be the utter catastrophe that many claim it to be. Nor is lead-free as difficult to work with as so many claim — at least not if you buy quality solder. (The cheap 99.7% stuff really is harder to use, but a quality SAC305 works just fine.)