Those #+%^ engineers!

[paulsharvey]

According to this, average life of a vehicle in the US is 16.58 years, and 156,470 miles; but varies by state, as high as 18.61 years (Idaho) and as low as 14.83 years (Louisiana). Milage, top was Wyoming, and lowest milage life span was Hawaii; but im assuming this is more about miles per year in those states.

 

[bigtiller]

I'm ahead of the stats. My 2007 GMC that I bought new is 18 years old and still still has under 60K miles.

 

[dstig1]

Reason I bring this up, can you design a bridge that can take 5 million pounds, sure, but if the design is for 1 million pounds live load, and it fails at 2.5m, dont blame the designers, blame the spec/scope team. With that, that bridge is designed for a 50-75 year life span, generally, (with periodic repairs, maintenance, rehab). So, if a bridge from 1950 is failing, the designers did their job.

Funny you mention bridges.... I had a prof for an advanced materials course in college. First day he starts off with this: (you need to say it in Chinese accent for the full effect )
"I do noooot give partial credit. Engineer build bridge. Bridge fall down. Nooooooo partial credit!"

Of course later I realized he was right...but incomplete. Sure if you build a bridge and it immediately falls down, that's a big fat ZERO. But if the design life was 20 years and it needs major repair at 19 years, that's a 95! And an "A"

 

[David in KY]

Another example of awful automotive engineering:

A friend had a 2008 (I think) Subaru Outback where the front bumper had to be removed to replace the headlight bulbs!!

 

[WM75Guy]

Another example of awful automotive engineering:

A friend had a 2008 (I think) Subaru Outback where the front bumper had to be removed to replace the headlight bulbs!!

My 2008 GMC 2500HD with the Duramax and dual batteries was worse. Battery was behind the left headlights with a solid plate between them on the radiator support. No way to reach in and get to the back of the bulbs by just removing the battery or from the top. First step was removing the grill to get at the bolts for the left fender, second step was to remove the left fender to access the headlight housing screws, third step was to remove the headlight housing and replace the bulb. The right headlights only required removing the breather box for the air filter, there was a hole in the radiator support to get to the back of the headlight housing.

 

[Oaktree]

Another example of awful automotive engineering:

A friend had a 2008 (I think) Subaru Outback where the front bumper had to be removed to replace the headlight bulbs!!

You had to remove a bumper and/or fender to get at 'most anything in a Suburu!!

I swear they take the cake when it comes to bad design. Back in the 90s a ladyfriend had a sort of sporty model with a 6 in it (didn't know they made a 6 at that point). The oil filter was recessed in such a manner that it was almost impossible to get out. Couldn't get a strap wrench on it, and the filter was an odd size that none of my cap wrenches fit. Adding to the fun was the the gorilla that put that filter in made sure it wasn't going to loosen up. Ended up having to puncture it with a long screwdriver and unscrew it that way.

Same car had a built in alarm clock that there was no obvious way to disable. She just set it to a time late at night when she wouldn't be likely to be driving. For some reason I'd taken it to work one night (worked a 2nd shift job at the time), and on my way home, in the middle of nowhere the car started beeping with no obvious reason why. I got the explanation the next morning.

For some unknown reason (at least the older) Suburus put the emergency brake on the front wheels, something I discovered the hard way trying to do a brake job. Trying to get the front calipers off, wouldn't budge. Eventually figured it out, but by that point I was in a bit of a mood.

Then there were the early models that mounted the spare tire on top of the engine.

Enough to discourage me from EVER wanting to own one. I've heard similar tales of woe from mechanic friends.