有的英语辞书指出：有时以非生物作主语时，不能用 be able to，应该用 can ,例如：I don't care for money, because money can't buy me love. 我不在乎钱，因为钱买不到爱情。（摘自1997年1月外语教学与研究出版社第1版《英汉多功能词典》can）

    但是，实际上，be able to 的主语也可以是“某物”、“某事”，至少在美国英语中是这样。例如：

    A good auditorium will assure that the sound is able to be heard from every seat. (TOEFL) 好的礼堂能保证每个座位的听众都能听得声音。（转引自赵振才编著的《英语常见问题解答大词典》增订版第五版p.18）

    a car that is able to hold [=can hold] five people 能乘坐五个人的轿车 （摘自《韦氏高阶英汉双解词典》）

    The car wasn't able to be repaired. [=could not be repaired]这辆汽车没法再修了。（摘自《韦氏高阶英汉双解词典》）

遇到类似问题，无须问别人，查一下词典问题就解决了。

《韦氏高阶》able

c — used to say that the quality or condition of something makes something possible

• a car that is able to hold [=can hold] five people

• The car wasn't able to be repaired. [=could not be repaired]

题主的话是有来源的，

即 be able to通常不以无生命的事物做主语，通常也不用被动，比如：

In both varieties of English (指AE，BrE), able to takes animate subjects much more often than inanimate ones, as in: Thompson was able to smell a bargain a continent away.

As in that example, able to normally combines with an active verb (see further under voice). This was the pattern in hundreds of corpus examples, the only counter example with a passive verb being the chapel was still able to be used (from LOB). Able to seems to insist on being construed with animate, active participants, as if it still draws on the energy of the adjective able, expressed in an able politician and able-bodied citizens.

--- The Cambridge Guide to English Usage by Pam Peters

关于主语问题，上面这段话也只是用了more often 而已 

关于被动问题，上面这段话用的是 the only counter example