That's nuts. If I use the delicate cycle it's like 24minutes for example with the min level the clothes come out clean, free of suds and a lot more dry compared to all other non-front load washers. I'd say your mom's washer was either malfunctioning or it was a design flaw.
Wow, never heard of that, and I have a fairly hi tech front loader myself. What kind does she have? As a pp said, something seems to be malfunctioning. I use the 'quick load' cycle (32min) for nearly everything, and get very clean clothes (use much less detergent that called for also).
Pretty sure it was a Bosch. Some of them have all sorts of automatic sensors (weight, fabric type, soil level, etc.) I remember her having service out for it multiple times. They told her that there may have been enough detergent left behind in the clothes from her previous machine that it may not even need any detergent at first.
Just looked it up and it seems they now also come with an automatic detergent dispenser to avoid overusage and "prevent additional rinse cycles". So it must have been a common issue where the machine just kept rinsing until all the detergent was gone.