I’ve had serpentine belts fail on 3 old beaters, sure, but in each case I could drive for a while after that at least (enough to get home in two cases, one was too far from home but I got to where I needed to go and then got towed and fixed at friend’s workshop, I already had the belt in the car, just hadn’t changed it yet). But these were all nearly 20 year old cars. And could’ve easily been prevented by me not being too cheap to spend 100 euros on a new belt, tensioner and pulleys - however, each of those happened when I was way too broke to get a lease on a brand new EV, so 100 euros on a belt kit was also an expense I didn’t want without knowing first that I do indeed need it.
I’ve had serpentine belts fail on 3 old beaters, sure, but in each case I could drive for a while after that at least (enough to get home in two cases, one was too far from home but I got to where I needed to go and then got towed and fixed at friend’s workshop, I already had the belt in the car, just hadn’t changed it yet). But these were all nearly 20 year old cars. And could’ve easily been prevented by me not being too cheap to spend 100 euros on a new belt, tensioner and pulleys - however, each of those happened when I was way too broke to get a lease on a brand new EV, so 100 euros on a belt kit was also an expense I didn’t want without knowing first that I do indeed need it.
You bring up an excellent point highlighting why on-the-road repairability is important and cheaper