Why do automakers make things so hard on Diyers?

It's no wonder many good DIY home garage auto techs hang up their tools after bringing home a new vehicle. One look under the hood gives them the message, loud and clear, that it's hands-off to the amateurs unless they have a spectacularly equipped shop.

Here are a few gripes on behalf of skinned knuckles everywhere, in hope that some auto exec is listening and taking notes.

OIL FILTER HIDE-AND-SEEK

What's impossible about placing an oil filter in an accessible location? And if the underside of the engine must be shrouded in plastic to get some infinitesimally small fuel-economy improvement, please let there be a small but sturdy cover over the filter, so it can be removed without tools or cursing.

BRING BACK THE DIPSTICK

Whatever was wrong with dipsticks? Removing the transmission fluid dipstick on a wide variety of vehicles was the change that likely created the highest level of blue language from even the most mild-mannered DIY techs. Carmakers defend the move by pointing to amateurs who over- or underfill their automatic gearboxes because they didn't know how to read the stick. But the more likely reason was the $3.25-per-vehicle saving the automaker recouped by removing this useful item.

NUTS TO CAPS

Capped wheel nuts drive us nuts. We've griped about this before, but they're still out there: cheap wheel nuts with even cheaper press-on chrome caps that crack and swell with age and corrosion. When these caps fall off — as they do quite often after a Canadian winter or two — a normal wheel wrench won't fit. If this happens in the home shop, a moderately equipped tool box should contain a smaller socket that will fit, but if you're on the side of the road, you're out of luck. For the sake of a few pennies, automakers are delivering substandard products, and in Canada, our conditions reveal these weaknesses.

HIT THE BOOKS

How about paper owners' manuals? Yes, these dusty tomes that lie in state in our gloveboxes do serve a useful purpose. Yet some penny-pinching auto exec thought providing online access to the manual's information, or tossing in a media disc in place of a paper book, was a great move. Problem is, not everyone carries an electronic device to access this info when they're broken down on the side of the road. Driving.ca