Marshall Booth wrote:
Irrespective of what the fuses are made of, they become unreliable after about 10 years of use. It's the heating/cooling cycle that causes the fuses to fatigue.
I've seen old European-style fuses where you could actually see the metal element sagging from this effect. One of my VWs had a few like that, including the wiper fuse. I didn't take the hint and replace it, and it promptly blew from old age on one dark, rainy night.
I kind of like the glass-encased ones, not because of reliability, but because they're easier to install (the non-glass ones come apart if you're not careful) and because they're less likely to burn my fingers if a short causes them to blow immediately when they're inserted. Both kinds seem inferior to the American, blade-style fuses.
