Have you ever wondered why newer vehicles are so hard to work on? Here's one explanation.

Why Are Newer Trucks So Hard to Work On? | Ford Trucks

 

Working at the Mack truck assembly plant, i can tell you he is absolutely right. Everything has to be put together as quickly as possible. It isnt always about how fast the line moves though. Many line workers dont want to have to so much as bend over to install a part, so they try to make assembly as easy as possible.

 

I've also worked in manufacturing of larger specialized air conditioning units---ease of assembly was our major goal. Even our own in-house service crews offered ways to improve servicing the equipment but unless it was a cost savings or could be incorporated without too much fuss it wasn't done.

I can't be sure if higher costs of servicing something figure into a customers decision to avoid a repeat purchase but for me it would. Perhaps a bit off topic but my recent purchase of a '99 Volvo S80 seemed like a screaming deal for a mere $850. An annoying defective auto-dimming rear view mirror prompted a search for an easy cheap fix. Seems that part if replaced by the dealer would run nearly $1,500, that is One Thousand Five Hundred dollars. (This repair is more than just slapping a new part in place.)

From this short bit of experience I'd never buy such a complex and expensive car, unless of course money wasn't a concern.

Nice article link Mark!

 

I've pondered this many times, and assembly is part of the issue, but I think there's more.

Reliability on vehicles is fairly amazing compared to the 50's and 60's when there were busy service areas in most gas stations. 100k plug changes and the like are the norm now. So the designers focus on long life, and maintenance probably becomes less important. Not to mention that sometimes the reliable design is harder to work on.

Then too, what does easy maintain buy them once it's out of warranty? Dealers have the equipment and training for the tough jobs, and they'd really rather have everybody else just leave things alone. Repair is a profit center these days.

So between that and all of the high tech these days, we have vehicles that usually run a long time. The bottom line is that they can be cash sinkholes if they do fail.