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Unlike most bicycle chains, timung chains are permanently lubricated with filtered oil. Belts are not.

Ford and a few other makers have been using oil-immersed timing belts lately. They quite reliably fail after the car's warranty is up but well before the rest of the car is junk.

I agree, they are a disaster. However, I have heard people argue that Honda and other manufacturers have been using oil emersed belts for decades.

After 2017 Ford started using belts to drive the oil pump in F-150 engines (and possibly other Ecoboost engines). I have seen 100k teardowns of failed engines and the belt is not looking good at that point. If the belt breaks the engine is toast by the time the operator realizes what is going on.

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