N
Nomen Nescio
At first glance the plastic valence that you now see in all late models to
cover the engine compartment from view would seem to serve no purpose. Why
in the world would Chrysler spend money that would otherwise be available
to lower the cost of its product, or better yet, buy a second fuel pump for
the fuel tank so you don't get stranded down the road some day? After some
reflection, I realize the brilliance of this useless piece of vestigial
polymer!
Think, "No user serviceable parts inside this unit". When the owner lifts
the hood, he is instantly intimidated. He will not ever attempt to do even
the simplest routine maintenance or minor repairs as in the days of old.
Not even an oil change or spark plug replacement. Chrysler has brilliantly
planned it that way; every customer is now locked into $75 per hour shop
rate for literally everything. If Chrysler is smart, they will make the
crankcase drain plug of a trick design requiring a special tool available
only to licensed dealers, to release it. That'll put the cabosh on those
20 Minute oil change joints as well as Saturday mechanics in one fell
swoop.
You see now, Chrysler is cost conscious. They invest say $15 covering the
mechanicals and get 100 times in returns for their dealerships and take a
piece of the action for themselves as well. Its legal, for now, but there
might be a legal theory to abate it.
How do you suppose it got started and how wide spread is this new approach
to business? Probably with consumer electronics. Not too long ago, TVs
were full of vacuum tubes. When your set quit, you would take out all the
tubes and test them at Thrifty Cut-Rate Drug Store. Replace the bad ones
and the set was usually good for another six months or a year. But today's
sets have only one vacuum tube in them. Nothing to fix. Therefore the
maker puts this little tag on the back and tells you not to open up the set
because its futile. You need to throw it away when it breaks down and buy
new. This concept has now spread to cars and most other products that
owners once tinkered with. Take the Ducati Monster 800 motorbike. The
owner's manual instructs you to have the oil changed at the bike shop. You
are not invited to do so yourself. Presumably you jeapordize the warranty
if you do so yourself. I think car companies are going in the same
direction.
They just about have to because they aren't making the money on selling new
cars. By getting the dealers to do virtually all the work, they will keep
their dealers healthy and the dealers will sell far more genuine factory
parts, locking out the 3rd parties. Everything will be O.E.M. and that
means profits. They will make profit on the back end instead of the front
end. That is my conclusion.
But there is a downside to purposely making servicing more difficult than
it needs to. Since servicing will now be very much more expensive and for
the second-hand market, prohibitively so, much servicing will be neglected.
Letting parts like spark plugs, wires, belts, and hoses go is going to lead
to sudden breakdowns and accidents as a result. This will come back to the
makers as bad will, reputation for unreliability, high maintenance costs,
and just plain cursing. Overall, it would seem the manufacturers will be
the losers in this game of cat and mouse. Given that this might be
considered bad faith action by manufacturers, there is the potential for
class action lawsuits to abate policies that are contrary to public
interests. Watch out Chrysler! Some of your customers are lawyers and
ready for action.
To illustrate just how much worse the serviceability has gotten just look
at the Bosch Jetronic fuel injection system. You could yank out every
injector with a pull for testing the spray patterns (qantity & quality)
into test tubes. One jumper and you could energize the pump for testing.
One pull on the air flow plate with a pair of pliers and you could actuate
the injection system and make the injectors spray for testing. The only
instruments needed to do a complete check was a fuel pressure gauge and a
test light or voltmeter. The whole system was intuitive and documentation
was complete, right down to temperature/pressure graphs. And one more
thing, every part was out in the open for service, no valence covers. Try
that with todays EFI system. Its utterly hopeless. Time for action, I say.
cover the engine compartment from view would seem to serve no purpose. Why
in the world would Chrysler spend money that would otherwise be available
to lower the cost of its product, or better yet, buy a second fuel pump for
the fuel tank so you don't get stranded down the road some day? After some
reflection, I realize the brilliance of this useless piece of vestigial
polymer!
Think, "No user serviceable parts inside this unit". When the owner lifts
the hood, he is instantly intimidated. He will not ever attempt to do even
the simplest routine maintenance or minor repairs as in the days of old.
Not even an oil change or spark plug replacement. Chrysler has brilliantly
planned it that way; every customer is now locked into $75 per hour shop
rate for literally everything. If Chrysler is smart, they will make the
crankcase drain plug of a trick design requiring a special tool available
only to licensed dealers, to release it. That'll put the cabosh on those
20 Minute oil change joints as well as Saturday mechanics in one fell
swoop.
You see now, Chrysler is cost conscious. They invest say $15 covering the
mechanicals and get 100 times in returns for their dealerships and take a
piece of the action for themselves as well. Its legal, for now, but there
might be a legal theory to abate it.
How do you suppose it got started and how wide spread is this new approach
to business? Probably with consumer electronics. Not too long ago, TVs
were full of vacuum tubes. When your set quit, you would take out all the
tubes and test them at Thrifty Cut-Rate Drug Store. Replace the bad ones
and the set was usually good for another six months or a year. But today's
sets have only one vacuum tube in them. Nothing to fix. Therefore the
maker puts this little tag on the back and tells you not to open up the set
because its futile. You need to throw it away when it breaks down and buy
new. This concept has now spread to cars and most other products that
owners once tinkered with. Take the Ducati Monster 800 motorbike. The
owner's manual instructs you to have the oil changed at the bike shop. You
are not invited to do so yourself. Presumably you jeapordize the warranty
if you do so yourself. I think car companies are going in the same
direction.
They just about have to because they aren't making the money on selling new
cars. By getting the dealers to do virtually all the work, they will keep
their dealers healthy and the dealers will sell far more genuine factory
parts, locking out the 3rd parties. Everything will be O.E.M. and that
means profits. They will make profit on the back end instead of the front
end. That is my conclusion.
But there is a downside to purposely making servicing more difficult than
it needs to. Since servicing will now be very much more expensive and for
the second-hand market, prohibitively so, much servicing will be neglected.
Letting parts like spark plugs, wires, belts, and hoses go is going to lead
to sudden breakdowns and accidents as a result. This will come back to the
makers as bad will, reputation for unreliability, high maintenance costs,
and just plain cursing. Overall, it would seem the manufacturers will be
the losers in this game of cat and mouse. Given that this might be
considered bad faith action by manufacturers, there is the potential for
class action lawsuits to abate policies that are contrary to public
interests. Watch out Chrysler! Some of your customers are lawyers and
ready for action.
To illustrate just how much worse the serviceability has gotten just look
at the Bosch Jetronic fuel injection system. You could yank out every
injector with a pull for testing the spray patterns (qantity & quality)
into test tubes. One jumper and you could energize the pump for testing.
One pull on the air flow plate with a pair of pliers and you could actuate
the injection system and make the injectors spray for testing. The only
instruments needed to do a complete check was a fuel pressure gauge and a
test light or voltmeter. The whole system was intuitive and documentation
was complete, right down to temperature/pressure graphs. And one more
thing, every part was out in the open for service, no valence covers. Try
that with todays EFI system. Its utterly hopeless. Time for action, I say.