How cost-cutting makes things more expensive
It’s no wonder many good doit-yourself home garage auto techs hang up their tools after bringing home a new ride.
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.
So, with that in mind, here are a few gripes on behalf of skinned knuckles everywhere, with the hopes that some auto exec is listening and taking notes.
LET’S NOT PLAY OIL FILTER HIDE-AND-SEEK
How about an engine where 17 pieces of plastic don’t have to be removed just to see the oil filter? That’s an exaggeration, I know, but 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 popular vehicles, was the change that likely created the highest level of blue language from even the mildest-mannered DIY techs.
Carmakers defend the move by pointing to amateurs that over- or under-filled 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. This rates up there with sealed-for-life transmissions that claim no fluid change requirements ever.
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 decorative caps fall off, as they do quite often after a Canadian winter or two, then 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.
Again, for the sake of a few pennies, automakers are delivering substandard products, and in Canada, our conditions reveal these weaknesses faster than a tire going flat from a major cut.
WE WANT TO HIT THE BOOKS
How about paper owners’ manuals? Yes, these dusty tomes that lie in state in our gloveboxes do serve a useful purpose or two. Yet some penny-pinching auto exec thought that providing online access to the manual’s information, or tossing in a media disc in place of a paper book, was a great customer service move.
Problem is, not everyone carries an electronic device to access this info when they’re broken down on the side of the road. Keep in mind that most carmakers that have eliminated these books will supply one if you call and request it.
MAKE STANDARDIZATION A STANDARD FEATURE
This one’s a long shot, but could someone look into standardizing the multitude of different nut and bolt sizes used on the average auto? This is the reason why home and pro tool boxes are starting to need their own postal code.
You’d think that by reducing the number of different fasteners required, production costs would go down. I may not be an auto exec, but all this stuff sure makes sense to me.