I'm an engineer with a major OEM. Typically about ~80% of these issues will be identified by the engineering team before the product ships, but management doesn't want to spend the time or money to fix it. The other 20%, well we're human.
There are game breaking bugs in video games that only take seconds to fix, and managers still fight with all they have against the programmers not running the way the manager like. Managers are the real problem in the world, especially if those managers never had anything to do with what their workplace does.
@@mech0p No. With all the tech and stuff we have today we are fully aware of these issues. Just like without all this tech back in the day we were still aware of all of these issues. But we don't get to make the decisions. The decisions are not made by engineers. You ever hear people complain about the bean counters? That is the accountants. That's the real problem.
Yep. I use “modern” machines at work where this is obviously the scenario. The base machine was engineered in the eighties and more capabilities were glommed on. Non-logical archaic circuitry where failure mode is catastrophic instead of limp home, duct tape is needed to seal gaps and “negative pressure” is measured as a negative number (vs. calling it psi vacuum).
Sandro gets it. All the problems really just boil down to "management heard what it'd cost to do it right, pitched a fit, and they burned reputation instead of money"
Fun fact, Canadian Kias have that immobilizer stuff in them because it's been mandated by law for years here. That isn't engineers, this is worse. Accountants
Yeah, that one wasn't an engineering or factory issue at all. Hyundai and Kia just deliberately omitted installing engine immobilizers in certain models of certain vehicles destined for the American market during the assembly process. This one was a business decision.
90% of things blamed on engineers were things engineers knew about but were told by the accountants that it wasn't worth fixing. Also for a lot of these odd things, there is a special tool that only dealerships can get ahold of that cost hundreds of dollars for an oddly shaped wrench.
YES! Don't blame engineers for engineering problems. I'm an engineer and 80% of serious issues are like: Engineer informs about a certain Risk or problem and asks management for time to make a redesign and retest. Management ignores this request, because time and money. I've been there, finding health-threatening problems in the design and being ignored completely. Good that some industries require something like UL or TUV, because these labs might block release of your device. But they only find a fraction of issues with the design. Stupid thing is that managers generally want to save like 100 hours once on the design time at a cost of 10000 hours per year of lost time - but it's someone elses time, not theirs so who cares.
Is it an engineering failure? Absolutely. Are the engineers responsible for it? Maybe, maybe not. Engineers aren't infalible, they can make mistakes. But so many of those things are related to cost and engineers aren't the ones trying to save margins. There are well known cases like Ford's PowerShift transmission, where pre-production engineers gave it a no-go and they sold it anyway.
I really think it's just due to lack of real world experience and reliance on computers and algorithms. I don't know how many times I had "but see right here, it says it works" and directed to a spread sheet or cad program. It's not about quality, but quantity.
@@etherealicer This. More complex things I can understand a Engineer not neccesarily catching the issue. But things like putting those stupid cardboard or plastic covers near the freaking drain plug for the oil pan is a 4 year old with zero knowledge can tell you its dumb. And you cant blame that things placement on the "bean counters" cause they would remove it entirely to save the dime it costs in production. What I think the bigger "Engineer Failure", which is more a oversight than failure, is they cant see the trees for the forest. A Engineer of any product has so many different things to look at, many of them being highly technical, that they dont have the time or capacity to ask themselves the more simple obvious issues, like the afore mentioned plactic covers/cardboard things. Also now having worked with engineers they do tend to hyper focus on the "It shouldnt need to be taken apart/fixed" mentality TOO much. Cars yes engineers will somewhat think on this. But Computers and other electronic products they think in terms of "If its built to EXACTLY 100% my specific specifications it will NEVER need to be opened" without taking into account that nothing ever will be built to their 100% exact specifications, so you NEED to design in the ability to get it apart. Im reminded of those desktop PC cases from the 90s, those things where a BITCH to get into and work in.
Real mechanical engineer here and I have a funny story. So my grandpa was a mechanic his whole life (repairing tractors) and he would go off on engineers for this exact reason. I remember one time he actually had to drop a transmission to get to the top pan to fix a misaligned leaver. We (my father is also an engineer) never got to hear the end of it, he actually delayed the delivery to the customer just so he could show us the dismantled transmission and what he had to for that little fix. Good days, miss my grandfather.
My dad is an engineer and a mechanic. He constantly complains about the higher ups in his company. He speaks from experience when he explains to them why a design won't work, and they just don't care. They have the "thats the next guy's problem" attitude.
My husband is an Electrical Engineer and has been working hands on as a Union Electrician for 20yrs. Working in the oils refineries in Long Beach, and commercial construction for Los Angeles County & Southern CA. He hates engineers in the office for this same reason. He’ll explain to them the faults in their designs and they brush him off like he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. They won’t even come onto the job site to see the projects in the field because ‘they know what they’re talking about.’ They’ve had to do 10’s of thousands of dollars worth of revisions to designs that my husband originally told them wouldn’t work (this just happened on a city job out here and it happens often) 🙄
I dealt with this a previous job log ago. I told corporate they are bundling products that are completely incompatible in the sales ad and they were basically like "oh well, it's out already". It's like sending out pc parts with macs. I told my guys that if anyone asked everything was sold out because the sale was so good lol.
As an embedded hardware and software engineer, I've had the same experience. Managements sole purpose, is to spend 10 cents on saving a penny. I had a parttime job as server admin, during my university years. Explained management that they had to replace their old failing server, for about an 8K USD new one. They said that there wasn't any money for a new server. Three weeks later the CEO drove a Tesla, and sales got a 10K USD smart-board they were to incompetent for to utilize to it's full potential. I quit and they had a huge server failure less than 6 months later. Then at my first engineering job, after graduating. There I would get 3 weeks to finish a project, yet ordering parts and equipment took at least 6 weeks. Management refused to believe me, when I said that I can't start on a project without equipment.
1000%^ this. They will break the spirit of any newbie. Engineers optimize for function, management optimize for production cost and get the only say in it.
Man, when Sandro said ‘honestly , anything you buy nowadays is gunna be crap’ I felt that. I’m a mechanic by trade and I would take a 20 year old car that’s been garage kept over ANYTHING new
I’m an engineer at one of the big three. A lot of times we’re not given a choice to fix stuff like this. I do all my own mechanic work so I definitely know the pain. But it’s mostly just these companies not caring, not the people that actually designed them. Would be fun to be on this show as an engineer with the mechanics …
Sounds like Engineer like to develop cars by trial and error. Stuff that can leak should not be able to leak on a vital part, that should be implemented in the first draft. Error happens, but most of these engineering problems are problems you can see in CAD, long before the first car is made. They should not need fixing, they should never have been there in the first place. Easy to blame management, but in truth it is mostly sloppy engineering work to begin with.
@@mikemitchell9157 I presume that was directed at me. I'm sorry, but there are some basics in there that every engineer should know. Having a team of engineers make those mistakes is pathetic. And I don't think I overpaid... I simply didn't get my paper in the US, but from ETHZ (ranked #7 in the world), for less than $10k (and that is even less if you consider that around here, a cashier ears around $4200/month).
I had a trusted mechanic my family used for over 30 years and I personally used for about 20 years before he unfortunately passed away on the job from a heart attack. I'm not a car guy so before I would buy a new vehicle i always asked him his opinion of it. A couple of times he let me know to stay away from certain vehicles because of things like this. He never steered me wrong. I really miss him.
I feel ya on that. I've been using my mechanic for 24 years, I moved out of state 2 years ago and literally drive back to him whenever I need anything done. Good honest mechanics are worth their weight in gold
As an old mechanic waiting on a hearr attack. Trust your mechanic, not the shop he works for. Get to know us, and we will not steer you wrong. No pun intended.
@@robertparamore2863 I was lucky because his father owned the shop when my family was originally going and he had taken over after his father retired by the time I was going to him. He died young though. He was only 54.
Would be really cool if Donut could get some industry engineer's in to talk their perspective and why/how these design choices get made. Nobody engineers a POS on purpose. Some constraint somewhere had to force a trade-off if they were aware ahead of time.
Alot of it actually comes down to Executive Descisions to make the Owner go to a Ford Dealership instead of a Normal Repair shop that also way they put some stupid Unique Bolt that requires a Special tool to remove most of it is about Greed and the Automotive Industry is Heavily Anti Right to Repair
I can't speak for the automotive world. But as an engineer, I can tell you there are people above us that force us to do things a certain way because of cost, looks, or just they like their idea better. I've also been told to design things to fail more so we can sell more spare parts.
I was scrolling through the comments, scrolled past this one and had to do a double take, just spent 30 sec trying to find your comment again just so i could say; What the actual fuck?! Why???
Sadly, it's often not the engineer's fault. It's called the engineer's paradox. Doesn't matter how much you scream until you're blue in the face, some pencil-pushing corporate shill is gonna require things get done in a way that engineer specifically says "you can't do that because [insert reason]". As an engineer, I've had to walk off a job because I was being told to do something that would be unsafe for the operators (industrial setting) and refused to do it. Told them that if they did it, I wouldn't continue on the project. They acted like they were backing down and I came in the next day and they'd done exactly what I told them not to do during the night shift. I don't play around with safety and I wasn't going to let my name be attached to someone's death. I walked off the job that instant.
yeah there are sometimes design or space constraints that force an engineer to do some things a certain way. Of course if there were a mechanic on the team maybe some wouldnt go through, but there are some that are just not able to be fixed without a ton of resources being poured in to fix the issue
Yeah.I'm seeing this everywhere now. Corporations don't care, managers don't care, workers don't care...even doctors don't care. Everybody wants their money and then they want you out of their face.
A few years back Jamie Hyneman, of Mythbusters fame, wrote an article for Popular Mechanics where he ranted about this very issue and blamed too much dependence on using CAD to design things with too few engineers ever having to bark their knuckles on actual machinery.
I deal with it all the time at work, it's annoying as all hell. They design processes in CATIA under absolutely sterile and perfect conditions with no room what-so ever for error. Then they get all upset when the real world comes crashing down on their nonsense.
@@alan62036Because everything fits perfectly when designed with CAD however there is no afterthought for remedial work to be done to any components that could be designed/positioned poorly
6:34 Speaking as a production operator at TNAP (Toledo North Assembly Plant) where the Jeep Wrangler is built, the electrical problems on the wranglers are a supplier issue. But for other issues it’s definitely the workers lol
I worked for Polaris at the Roseau plant, in the warehouse picking parts, I cannot tell you how many times a day the line workers couldn't be asked to get their part orders in before a line stop was inevitable, I am with you that some problems are supplier issues while a lot of problems are caused by tweekers doing their jobs incorrectly.
As an accountant, I can say this: people with an economic degree get way to much power in lots of companies. A lot of them also think they know everything there is to know, so why should they not push their ideas thru?
Which is why I'm not an engineer. Well, I am an engineer, but I'm not that kind of engineer... I digress, the first pencil pusher, no offense, that insisted I do it his way, I'd be like, sounds like you don't need me, I'm taking the rest of the day off, you design it. And I'm hitting the golf course.
A lot of those bad engineering decisions are really made by the accountants, not the engineers. If a manufacturer can save $2 per car by simplifying a mold or a stamping, they will, even if it reduces serviceability
Shareholders and investors are the root cause of all of these problems and more. They don't care about the company, the employees or the customers they serve. All they care about is seeing a green line go up and it had better be steeper next quarter or else. It's a sick and perverse system that ruins everything in the name of pure unleaded greed.
was going to post this same thing VAVE is the term for telling the engineer to make it cheaper, use less screws, make it out of plastic or the cheapest pot metal. then use less plastic and cheap pot metal.
I love how BeeJay knew immediately where the Acadia’s power steering leaked before the mechanic even showed the clip. I love how knowledgeable these men and women are. Well done.
You need to add one more option, cost accountants. Many design decisions by engineers get blocked by the brand accounting division as too costly to build.
I once looked through some old car review magazines from the 1960s and one very interesting criteria they covered back then which isn't today is the ease of maintenance. They actually judged cars by how accessible everything was if it ever needed repair or replacement. Can you imagine how today's cars would be looked upon in this way if any automotive journalists cared to do so??
There's something called "design for assembly", which also covers disassembly. Unfortunately my design work involves the equipment used to make car parts, so when I do incorporate ease of assembly/disassembly, it only benefits the maintenance techs. Little things like measuring wrench thicknesses to make sure you can fit a flat, etc. is all part of my mindset. Don't have much control over what we're making when handed a product to build.
It's in the future. Doesn't affect them. Corporate lives by a financial quarter at a time. Gotta hit those projected revenue numbers no matter what. Causing problems down the road does not matter, next quarter is the only thing that matters
Speaking as an engineer. We work really hard to design these products. They go through rigorous testing and we have teams of people combing through the designs to identify potential issues like this. BUT we also work in the real world despite what people think. We don't have infinite time and money to revise issues. Some of these issues are caused by poor management, communication, pressure from accounting, or a whole host of other issues. We get a lot of flak for when things go wrong but it takes a whole team top to bottom for these flaws to make it into production.
Also a good point. Ford Escort 1980-87 model was designed by committee, and it showed. I needed a full set of wrenches to do maintenance on it, could never reach anything that needed to be serviced, it was a nightmare. Don't design cars by committee. Also, on AKE-class naval support ships, you can clearly see the dividing line where the forward end design team and after end design team's remits meet, because all the pipes, wiring, and ductwork in the main deck overhead takes a jog in a random direction, because not only did they not match it up, they didn't even run them in the same place. Some channels even *cross* because of this. I feel so sorry for the guys who had to actually figure out how to match all that stuff together and fix the design teams' problems!
Design it right the first time. Yall wanna make em all compact so everything is a nightmare to work on quit making excuses you just think your shit don't stink cause you over spent on your education
My dad had a kill switch on our old car. It was a Lada Samara. 😅 He also put a safe lock on the reservoir cap. To be fair some local kids used to syphon off gasoline to run their bikes.
I saw a comment on the last video that they should make a shirt with a wrecked lowrider that says “For The Boys” above it and I would buy one immediately 😂
Sandro with the best takes, love that dude. The problem isnt that car companies are trying to make money, the problem is they are trying to make ALL the money.
you should include management... i have some friends that are engineers and sometimes management overrides their designs/decisions just based on cost and timelines.
Yeah, another commenter brought up a point that the engine is probably used in a couple models and they either weren't given the time to check the clearance or they did, but management didn't want to wait for the updated paperwork and designs for this part on this model car and overrode the engineers. Someone also might have complained about having to have a different bolt for one model and the added cost of stocking that bolt for repair shops and stuff.
My favorite car fail was when I found out you can put the clutch in backwards in a 2005 k series civic was a pretty entertaining night learning how the car reacts to that interesting situation
@@onbored9627 basically it acted like it was a automatic at idle would go forward with no input but wouldn’t go any faster and reverse was 1st gear sort of it was really weird wouldn’t recommend
Thats a big oof, didn't know that was possible so thanks for sharing. As much as I doubt I'd do the same anyway. Hope you got it running right.@@Priest8776
I knew an engineer working for Prodrive. He claimed a lot of engineering problems are caused by the stylists. He called them 'crayon fairies ' their designs have to be followed and they expect engineers to make their designs actually work.
@@buffalowt5582 Yeah. My father is a "Construction Supervisor" and very often he is asked on opinion. He usually answers that "Looks should be evaluated by investors, not constructors". But very often he informs on how much yearly it will cost - or tells them to ask that question another specialist. Eh. hidden roof gutters - it is beatuful, but electricity for this can cost several time the gutter costed itself. Generally every shape is possible, but then either engineer or assembly will send you a warning, which they will later print to be able to defend in court, that they informed it's bad decision.
I'm a computer engineer, but had a number of friends that were mechanical. They all basically told me there is so little they get to determine on things like cars. Usually, accountants and managers push them to do stuff they don't agree with. There are so many regulations you have to follow on top of all the cost savings you are expected to have. So it's usually not an engineers fault, but the fault of many different variables in the process.
they must be playing you my man, I have seen few manufacturers where a bolt is just facing wrong the way which would end up making a difference between getting the component out there and then and dropping the whole engine. Screw these engineers.
Exactly, engineers don't want to send a bad product. There is always an accountant/manager/project director that screw things up and stop the engineering process before they are able to fix all the little things. The product is sent and when shit hit the fan they will already be gone so why would they care.
@@itsnotfunny8257 More than likely the engineer said to put it the correct way but the manager/manufacturer wants it the wrong way so that its more difficult to do the job. That way they are more likely to bring the vehicle back th the dealership for the work.
I am an engineer and I always talk to the guys "in the field" when I design anything at all! I wish more engineers did this.... I've seen this sort of thing happen over and over again. Communication is key!
I've heard of many cases, had some first hand, of "in the field" guys attempting to communicate with an engineer, so far, universally, their reaction was "who do you think you are, I'm an engineer", won't even hear you out before deciding you're a dumbass. Egos you wouldn't believe, they get real angry, or at least condescending. I'm sure not everyone's like that, but apparently most are.
Also an engineer and I do all my own work on my vehicles. When I previously made subflooring, getting feedback from construction workers on how to improve the product was a part of the job. The guy calling it "fake" doesn't know the industry.
Aerospace Engineer here. I agree that engineers will make flaws during their design process, but you gotta consider the costly factors (accountants/project management) that are way more controlled than the design procedure itself. Big companies tend to cut corners and shave expenses as much as they can, thus consequently affecting the design (materials/ tooling/ safer designs) and assembly procedures. Another factor to consider is the miscommunication between the engineers and the QC sector. It’s very common to see no communication between them to claim and point out the flaws before the product gets approved for mass production. Again, the bigger the company, bigger the problems…
Maintenance however is taken into account in aviation engineering. It's not in automotive. Take the bolt in the video for example, that requires an engine out to remove the tensioner. You aren't designing a removal of a JT8 in order to access the accessory gearbox, yet we find that in the automotive world constantly...
same; was an engineer for Martin Marietta during the Lockheed merger years. Quite a bit of headbutting between design engineers and manufacturing/production engineers
One of the problems with component access on engines is that the same powertrain is fitted in a multitude of different vehicles, and they don't always allow for all applications at the design stage. This applies particularly if an existing powertrain is shoehorned into a car that was never intended to have it.
I have a VW MK4 Beetle; perfect example of engineers being forced to jam a Jetta/golf engine into a tiny engine bay. We had to drop the engine to get enough clearance to change the AC compressor 😂
I think a good example of that in this video is the Traverse; those 3.6 LLT engines were designed for longitudinal applications (FR). Likely, that tensioner bolt has plenty of room in all those Zeta platform cars, but finds that frame rail in the Lambda platform vehicles. I bet whoever made the decision to place that engine, as is, in a transverse application, didn't let the engineers fix it. For cost reasons. It was likely management, with input from accounting.
My uncle was an engineer for one of the big 3 and regularly complained that they compartmentalized to the point that they didnt know what was going around what they designed. He said that he had asked, many time, what went around what he was designing and the respo se was always the same. "This is what you are to design and this is the space you have to put it in." Then if asked again the next response was always "this is what you are to design and this is the space you have to put it in. If you ask again, we will find someone that will amd you can find a new job."
Im an engineer (aerospace electronics) I also work on cars (was and engineer for Chylser at one point) the issue is that a lot of engineers dont have the complete user experience in mind when designing things. And when they do, often time managment would force them to ignore it to save cost/time Before I design or make changes I consult with several technicians to make sure im not causing unnecessary pain points
I work in a heavy duty truck service shop, I can tell you 1 thing for certain…. Fuck Volvo semis. They make a truck that’s supposed to be streamlined for the consumer, however, they overlooked the need for maintenance and the effective ability for technicians to navigate whatever bullshit they throw at you. I want to know why in the absolute fuck Volvo felt a need to have 3 lube filters, and 1-2 fuel filters, when most trucks have 1-2 lube filters, and 2-3 fuel filters…. Not to mention it really seals those filters in in comparison and they’re stacked in a row too damn close together to effectively loosen all three and remove all three, gotta loosen 1 then remove 1, and they bleed, and you only get a 1/4” turn with a filter wrench at a time because you’re gonna keep hitting knuckles against leaf spring or frame… engineers y’all make shit the world needs, but sometimes y’all make shit unnecessarily “tidy” which results in tight squeezes that just make me want to make y’all start inventing tools for specific use lmao
"It's a Jeep so..." absolutely savage and too true. This is probably my favorite segment/series on all of TH-cam at this point. These three are keepers and Angelina and Sandro have to be mainstays. I say this on behalf of the boys
Civil Engineer here and I have just one thing to say about this whole matter, if I built a Bridge that fell down in a few years or a road that didn't hold up for decades, I would be sooooo fired. These are business decisions, same exact thing as when you go to a restaurant that is going down hill and they give you half of the meal you came back for. This is why you don't let them monopolize everything.
A lot of these problems are caused by bean counters. The long bolt in the pulley is likely used elsewhere. The kia ignition i'd almost guarantee is a result of cost reduction efforts.
How is Angelina NOT on the main Donut channel? She is smart, entertaining, articulate, and would be fantastic as a regular Donut host! Get that woman her own regular spot on the main channel ASAP.
I have designed hundreds if not thousands of automotive components. Every single component I designed had to go through a manufacturability and serviceability review. If there is a serviceability issue, I can almost guarantee that the engineers knew about it and were likely told not to worry about it by management.
I remember "don't worry about it" all too well, in medicine. At the time I worked with a regional facility servicing hospitals with whatever was not available from registered market. We'd want to standardise and bring to an appropriate scale for efficiency and minimal loss to expiration. I'd always go through the basic questions: exactly what does the client need, how can we make this easier on staff to use, etc. Management did not like my wasting time, wanted to just make the product so we can sell it. Some of our products were scrapped after the investment of validation, because the hospitals wouldn't buy it - staff said that it was too hard to use. Some would be a wrong dose or volume compared to what was used by that dpt, others would be about selecting the wrong syringe type - the cheap one that takes a bit of force. A nurse using a large number of these daily gets rsi.
That is where consumer education becomes important. If consumers know which cars are easier to service because serviceability has been considered in the design process, they would consider that valuable as it saves them time and money when the car needs repairs. Then they will choose to buy more serviceable cars. There needs to be a company that designs a functioning car for the sole purpose of making it the most serviceable car in the world. Complete teardown.
@@TheCatOfAges I really date it to their metallurgy problems in the mid-'50s. There were some pretty great prewar Chryslers. Although let's not talk about the E-M-F debacle.
This is one of the reasons I love working on older cars. You're able to actually turn a wrench on them instead of having to get the front clip removed at a dealership just to change a battery.
Some of Sandro’s dead-pan one-liners are comedy gold. I do have some sympathy for the engineers, because the real enemy are the penny-pinching accountants and PR people who want to promise the world…
Angelina is so awesome, as a female car enthusiast who watches every single Donut video that comes out, I love when she makes appearances. She’s smart, funny, and a great representation of a knowledgeable female mechanic. Would love to see her in more stuff! (But all of them are great)
Just Empty Every Pocket-JEEP Helped a friend change his rear rotors on his ‘16 compass. You can’t take the calipers off unless you bleed the brake lines.
Sandro is the dude you go to when you can’t get your car started no matter what you try and he get it’s up and running in 20 minutes and says “yeah bro you should be solid for a few days”
I was a mechanic and boy did I see some very big fails: - Renault Twingo Mk1, the airbag cover could cut into your arm on deployment - Alfa Romeo 156 V6, the oil filter was to long for the space given (towards the firewall) so you had to cut it into pieces - Ford Explorer V6 4.0 (Mk1), the spark plugs were behind the inner wheelarches so had to drill into them or remove the engine - Renault Espace V6 3.5, they stuffed a Nissan VQ35DE engine in there so you had to remove the entire intake to get to the spark plugs - Land Rover, on a lot of turbocharged vehicles the loom for the turbo actuator is mounted and routed in such a way that oil leaks into the engine harness that leads into the ECU shorting it out and a leak is guaranteed - Renault Clio Sport Mk2 and 3, there's not enough space to pull out the idler pulley or get to the timing belt tensioner so you either cut into the front support or get the engine out And a more general thing I've seen: - Body on frame vehicles made by GM, Chrysler and Ford for the US market tend to complete rust out within 5 to 6 years in winter conditions due to very poor quality sheet metal and rust prevention There are a ton more but those yre some from the top of my head.
@bruh the French have this strange problem where they have to be the first to use a technology, if they understand it is secondary. And they have to do it their way, which is almost always backwards or upside down
@@VinceRiviera you mean like that one time I had to replace a clutch 3 times within not even 200km because the factory kept packaging clutches for the 2.0TS and Fiat Bravo HGT as 2.5 V6 compatibile? Or those front shocks that blew so hard that they almost shot their pistons through the bonnet?
Angelina inspired me to work on my own car instead of taking it to a mechanic that would charge me the girl tax :D did my first oil change and brakepad change today, feeling inspired to learn more thanks to her!
Even just having knowledge of a problem will sometimes keep mechanics on the straight and narrow. Also, find yourself a mechanic you can trust, even if it costs you just a tad more than another place, if they aren't selling you something you don't need, it's worth it. Talk to friends and colleagues, word of mouth is a powerful ally. I had a Camaro with a repeating problem of front brakes locking up. Three places I went to said I needed all new brake calipers. Took it to a place my friend recommended and they said it was just a bad brake hose. Cost me $120 instead of the hundreds from the other places. Of course, that was long before I really learned what to do with brakes, now I do everything myself.
Rock on!!! That's where it starts. Few years ago, I was doing my oil changes, then brakes, and last year I did a head gasket and this year a major head job with new valves and a ton of awful suspension work. Your knowledge and capabilities will start to snowball now that you've begun. Keep it up!
Grats. The brakes were the last thing I ever worked on myself out of fear. Car not moving is one thing, not stopping while moving is a worse thing lol. Had a bad experience with a garage that finally pushed me to doing it myself.
I have some engineering experience, and while I’m thankful that people in the comments are defending engineers, it’s still not completely fair to blame problems on the marketing and business side. Often engineers don’t consult with the business side enough to prevent designing something that will be too costly or risky. The business side may not know the technical processes behind a product, but they are damn good at guessing the result once it hits the market. Product design is a team effort, so when problems happen it is a team mistake.
On the old 1980s-1990s Ford Tempo/Topaz we used a hole saw to cut a hole in the inner fender to get the crank pully out. Strange part of the story, there was a dimple on the inner fender/frame rail with the exact place to drill to access the bolt.
I had a friend back in the day who was/is an engineer for one of the big 3 domestics who used to show me designs on his laptop at the bar and ask my opinion as a tech. I think more engineers ought to do that.
That's nice! If my gut is telling me that a particular design is going to be an issue, then I get in contact with the people who are going to be making the stuff to verify it is actually feasible.
That would be way too sensible. But then there are things that you think you might have to take half the car apart to get at and you find they actually DID figure it to where you can do it without too much hassle. The worst is where you need a $50 tool that only works for one thing.
Most engineers want to create perfect products but management is a ball and chain that keeps us back. I don't know how many times i have found problems with our designs and management just say "ok, so we file an exception" and leave it like that.
For Escape had a blown alternator. Researched before trying to replace. Dropped it off at NAPA. THEY had it ready 4 hours later. Raised the engine, lowered the transmission, and replaced the spark plugs at cost as a courtesy. Alternator was between the tranny and engine by the firewall and I front of the spark plugs
For the first Video, As an engineer i probably know what happend. That engine is probably in a few other models aswel, and the might not have checked the clearance for removing that bolt. The reason for the bolt being so long. Its probably that that bolt was already used somewhere else on the engine and used again to receduce the bill of material. Therefore having to buy less kinds of bolts and reducing costs becouse inventory cost a lot more than u think :)
Now, convince them that torque-to-yield bolts with nonstandard threads are a waste of material, since they can't be reused.....for anything. Total dick move. You'd have to melt them down to recycle them.
@@GSBro Yup. You torque them down tight until the bolt stretches a certain amount, which provides maximum clamping force for a given thickness of the bolt. Once stretched, you cannot reuse them unless you want to press your luck with potential breakage. Now, make it 7/16 inch diameter with 1.50mm thread pitch. There are no nuts or thread taps sold to match that oddball combo. Useless after one use. Dick move.
@vilefly cylinder head or conrod bolts are fit and forget unless there's failure. If you don't use mongrel bolts the engine winds up 5 or 6mm longer, and won't fit the vehicle.
@@johnwade1095 You have only a little experience. I am 53. Been rebuilding engines a lot longer than you. Still working as a certified master mechanic. The engine won't fit the vehicle. Get out. You have a torque sequence you have to follow or you will distort something. That has always been there, whether cast iron or aluminum. Mongrel bolts, as you call them never broke for me, back in those days.....unless you ran nitrous or a supercharger on something that was never designed for it. You wouldn't be rebuilding the engine unless there WAS failure in the first place. I need to stop ranting about this....getting whipped up into a frenzy over nothing these days. Crabby old man cussing at everything. Crab..crab....crab.....doublecrab.
We have 3 mechanics stationed across Canada and their sole job is to take our equipment into the field and replace components. Then they report back to the engineers on how easy or difficult it is, and adjust accordingly.
That kill switch reminded me of what I used to do with my Beetle; take out the rotor from the distributor (cap was clipped on).. Good luck starting that one 😂
6:53 “California Lemon Law” . We had a brand new corvette one time that kept having electrical issues . The Chevy dealer was giving us a hard time so we looked up a lemon law lawyer online. We sent him the paperwork and he calls Chevy . He takes a cute and we get a check for the price of the corvette in the mail. Super easy. You do have to take the car into the dealership 3 times though. Everything was done over the phone with the out having to meet the Florida based lawyer. 👍🏻
This is why, as a mechanical engineering student, ive taken a technician job to pay for school. I dont want to be the engineer who forgets about the mechanics
That's what I did too, but once I graduated I figured out that engineers don't make these decisions. It will be someone with a business degree telling you that we don't have it in a budget for that change, so just keep it as it is.
Unfortunatly unless you get to the top position there is a good chance you can bring up concerns only to be ignored. The auto industry is infamous for their "recall math". Aka "how many people have to die, be seriously injured, or kill/injure some other person before the cost is worth it to actually fix a problem we are more than aware of". Factor in the number of vehicles produced and theur have been times a 50$ part with sub 1 hour labour was considered bad business to let the public know (their customers). Somehow i feel how little human lives seem to be making mechanics upset doesnt even cross their mind. Like mentioned in the video, if it can stay together until the warentee expires no one gives a fuck. I miss the days of toyota buying a brand new tacoma to the guy that had 1 million miles on his old toyota sedan( his grandpa bought it, gave it to his dad as his first car, his dad did the same) all they did was change the oil exactly when required and even admited to ignoring a bunch of other "required mantinance" and still had no problems. Everything is build to fail today
My favorite became a recall. Aluminum battery ground cables. They work great in the salt belt. Whats even better is they didnt crimp the battery lugs on. Instead they butted them together and hoped epoxy and heat shrink would hold it together.
Someone else commented to get some engineers on here to also give some insight. That's a really good idea because from what I understand a lot of times, engineering teams oftentimes develop different systems of cars separately and then come together afterwards and don't catch things that could be issues on the line
I love this channel. I'm guessing a lot of "bad engineering decisions" are actually "know nothing spreadsheet managers wouldn't listen to the repeated, increasingly desperate, warnings of the engineers who finally abandoned hope"
@@ryandowning2956 I’m not justifying it, but imagine that 60 times on one car, let’s say the f150. 1.86 million were sold in the us in 2022, that is more than 100 million dollars saved, and that’s just with one model
@@chm1ata No that literally is how they are justifying it. The Chevy traverse example above is how they can take the same exact engine assembly that's used in multiple vehicles and drop it in this one without changes. That saves them a couple bucks... Even though it means you can't remove that bolt without paying an extra hour or more of technician time. But during the warranty period they don't really have to change that.. So it doesn't cost them anything substantial and the money says to just leave it alone even though it can't come out
@TravisFabel the Ford Escort Fx4 was worse. There was clearance between the bolt and frame, you could break the bolt loose with a wrench, get it finger loose, then back it out until about 1/4 of an inch was remaining at which point it backed into the frame rail. Then, if you didn't thread it back in nearly all the way, it would snap off on the engine mount as you lowered the engine to get it out...
It would be AMAZING if you guys started a "Mechanics Review Cars" series - could be either video breakdowns by the car or segment overview videos! You could look at engineering quality, construction quality, ease and likely cost of repair, general value and coolness, and (Doug--style) mechanical quirks and features!
I visited the Skoda factory in Mladá Boleslav, Tjech Rep. some years ago and there and then it became clear to me why these things happen. Engines, gearboxes, chassis, body and all kinds of other pre-assembled parts come from different factories in different countries. In the end the are fit together to make a car. To save costs, one type of engine is used in several car models. This means that sometimes an engine that fits model A perfectly, just about fits model B. Making modifications is expensive, so mechanics get bad surprises. I don't remember what model it was, but the chassis complete with engine, gearbox, suspension, etc., rolled in and from above the body was lowered on to it. This all automated. No human hand in sight. I remember thinking: "nobody is ever going to be able to change that oil filter without lifting the entire engine". Years later, I had to think of this, cause there had to be an engine part (I think it was the waterpump) changed on my own car (RAV4) and the garage manual (I like to know how things work) said 8 hours for the job, cause the engine had to be lifted out. When searching the internet, I found a (Toyota) mechanic, who said: "we actually just remove the wheel and the inner wheel well liner and than we can do the job without lifting the engine. Takes 2-3 hours". Then he added: "But you'll pay for 8". Mine was changed under warrantee, but nevertheless. So sometimes mechanics find clever ways to circumvent these problematic 'bad design' situations.
“How much would you charge someone to do this job again” “I wouldn’t do it again” Spoken like a true experienced mechanic lol sometimes no amount of money is worth the headache
With him on that. I've worked on few cars that I would never touch again. In our place we call them snowballs, because fix one thing 2 more break, and just continues.
I used to be a logger. We would always run into this problem with John Deere equipment especially. We always had a joke that “the mechanic ran off with the engineer’s wife” lol 😂
I worked as a production development engineer for a major diesel manufacturer and a joke that bounce around sometimes was that, we make the engine, then they make the frame or vice versa. Sometimes one engine is used across multiple companies and applications. As a requirement we had to do virtual fit checks with different tools to validate but due to many variables, cost, production release date, current headcount to redesign last minute design flaws is why designs aren’t always ideal
as a mechanic, from what i’ve seen and heard from engineers, it all really boils down to this. (like Ms. A said) engineers are forced to make things as cheap as possible and easy to assemble so factories can push them out. shit really does roll down the hill 😭
Weird, by your name I wouldn't have thought you were a woman... oh, no, wait.... those ones continues bad decision making even with good signals and advice. Sorry, my bad.
There's a reason he wasn't haha. While engineer's absolutely do make mistakes, things are never designed in a vacuum. Most of the issues they blamed on engineers in that video come down to cost cutting over anything else.
Pride? lol there's no respect for the consumer, or anything but their own bottom line. It's not about what you can produce, it's about what you can convince someone to buy. Everything is MasterLock now, even books.
As a Manufacturing Engineer about to graduate from college - many of those manufacturing / factory faults I’ve seen happen is due to plant management ramping up the production line speed in the name of increasing production even when the assembly processes cannot be completed properly in that time span. You end up with a lot of product but product with faults instead of a properly assembled product. Some of upper management just sees the short term profit when in reality you tank your long term profit due to hurt reputation because of poor build quality.
I love that comment at the end, "engineers think they live in this perfect world." I work on refrigerators and certified to work on LG fridges, so I run into my fair share of problems. A lot of these newer fridges are pretty much made in labs with controlled conditions. In a home, there are so many variables unaccounted for: Pets, outside temp, doors opening and closing, the cleaning of the back panel vents, drain tube(s) designs, and power surges/outages.
I worked in a quick lube place, and we had this really trick green rubber THING. Haven't a clue it's official name, was just the green rubber thing to me. But you could bend and mold it to the perfect position to keep it off of stuff. Really useful on Ram 1500's with the Hemi's AND 4wd. As the oil filter was directly above where the front axel would sit.
@@kurtsandoval7714 I mean, if you need training to deal with that problem, I don't know what to say. There are some pretty bad ones but that one's child's play. Speaking as someone who's first full time job was working at a lube shop, they could have found a video of a much worse design for draining oil over other parts. There's set ups where, unless you have a specialized flexible drain funnel, you're going to drain oil from the filter over electrical wiring, drivetrain parts AND the frame and I've even seen some where there's no way to place a specialized funnel so that it saves you, you just have to do your best to wipe it up.
For the first one, since you can see the back end of the bolt and how much thread is and isn't being used, I'd put the bolt in all the way, then cut off as much as I can. Or, depending on where and what panel is blocking that bolt, I'd re-engineer the panel with a hole saw to make enough room for the bolt and a socket. That looks like frame tho, so probably not likely there.
I'm an engineer with a major OEM. Typically about ~80% of these issues will be identified by the engineering team before the product ships, but management doesn't want to spend the time or money to fix it. The other 20%, well we're human.
Youd think with all the tech we have now days including ai it would be a much more rare occurence.
There are game breaking bugs in video games that only take seconds to fix, and managers still fight with all they have against the programmers not running the way the manager like.
Managers are the real problem in the world, especially if those managers never had anything to do with what their workplace does.
@@mech0p No. With all the tech and stuff we have today we are fully aware of these issues. Just like without all this tech back in the day we were still aware of all of these issues.
But we don't get to make the decisions. The decisions are not made by engineers. You ever hear people complain about the bean counters? That is the accountants. That's the real problem.
AI is not perfect either!
Yep. I use “modern” machines at work where this is obviously the scenario. The base machine was engineered in the eighties and more capabilities were glommed on. Non-logical archaic circuitry where failure mode is catastrophic instead of limp home, duct tape is needed to seal gaps and “negative pressure” is measured as a negative number (vs. calling it psi vacuum).
Sandro gets it. All the problems really just boil down to "management heard what it'd cost to do it right, pitched a fit, and they burned reputation instead of money"
this would stop happening if society gave rich people what they truly deserve for what they've done to us lol
@@smoothestbassist7086 Uh, nothing then?
@@scythelordhow'd you type that with a whole boot in your mouth?
@@smoothestbassist7086 someone becomes fortunate and you play victim, huh?
@@strayiggytvmost people don't type with their mouths?
Nice job, though, 10/10 sense-make
Fun fact, Canadian Kias have that immobilizer stuff in them because it's been mandated by law for years here. That isn't engineers, this is worse. Accountants
Nah, the accountants are the ones that factored the cost saving, the higherups that made the decision to remove them are to blame.
In the UK they have them too, and from what i can tell, our insurance industry wouldn't of sold insurance on them if they didnt.
It was not the accountants. It was the lobbyists who got key requirements “deregulated,” and the politicians who took their money/gifts.
Value engineering makes every engineer an accountant
Yeah, that one wasn't an engineering or factory issue at all. Hyundai and Kia just deliberately omitted installing engine immobilizers in certain models of certain vehicles destined for the American market during the assembly process. This one was a business decision.
90% of things blamed on engineers were things engineers knew about but were told by the accountants that it wasn't worth fixing. Also for a lot of these odd things, there is a special tool that only dealerships can get ahold of that cost hundreds of dollars for an oddly shaped wrench.
YES!
Don't blame engineers for engineering problems. I'm an engineer and 80% of serious issues are like: Engineer informs about a certain Risk or problem and asks management for time to make a redesign and retest. Management ignores this request, because time and money. I've been there, finding health-threatening problems in the design and being ignored completely. Good that some industries require something like UL or TUV, because these labs might block release of your device. But they only find a fraction of issues with the design.
Stupid thing is that managers generally want to save like 100 hours once on the design time at a cost of 10000 hours per year of lost time - but it's someone elses time, not theirs so who cares.
Is it an engineering failure? Absolutely. Are the engineers responsible for it? Maybe, maybe not. Engineers aren't infalible, they can make mistakes. But so many of those things are related to cost and engineers aren't the ones trying to save margins. There are well known cases like Ford's PowerShift transmission, where pre-production engineers gave it a no-go and they sold it anyway.
I really think it's just due to lack of real world experience and reliance on computers and algorithms. I don't know how many times I had "but see right here, it says it works" and directed to a spread sheet or cad program. It's not about quality, but quantity.
No. Engineers designed it that way in the first place.
@@etherealicer This. More complex things I can understand a Engineer not neccesarily catching the issue. But things like putting those stupid cardboard or plastic covers near the freaking drain plug for the oil pan is a 4 year old with zero knowledge can tell you its dumb. And you cant blame that things placement on the "bean counters" cause they would remove it entirely to save the dime it costs in production.
What I think the bigger "Engineer Failure", which is more a oversight than failure, is they cant see the trees for the forest. A Engineer of any product has so many different things to look at, many of them being highly technical, that they dont have the time or capacity to ask themselves the more simple obvious issues, like the afore mentioned plactic covers/cardboard things.
Also now having worked with engineers they do tend to hyper focus on the "It shouldnt need to be taken apart/fixed" mentality TOO much. Cars yes engineers will somewhat think on this. But Computers and other electronic products they think in terms of "If its built to EXACTLY 100% my specific specifications it will NEVER need to be opened" without taking into account that nothing ever will be built to their 100% exact specifications, so you NEED to design in the ability to get it apart. Im reminded of those desktop PC cases from the 90s, those things where a BITCH to get into and work in.
Real mechanical engineer here and I have a funny story. So my grandpa was a mechanic his whole life (repairing tractors) and he would go off on engineers for this exact reason. I remember one time he actually had to drop a transmission to get to the top pan to fix a misaligned leaver. We (my father is also an engineer) never got to hear the end of it, he actually delayed the delivery to the customer just so he could show us the dismantled transmission and what he had to for that little fix. Good days, miss my grandfather.
My dad is an engineer and a mechanic. He constantly complains about the higher ups in his company. He speaks from experience when he explains to them why a design won't work, and they just don't care. They have the "thats the next guy's problem" attitude.
My husband is an Electrical Engineer and has been working hands on as a Union Electrician for 20yrs. Working in the oils refineries in Long Beach, and commercial construction for Los Angeles County & Southern CA. He hates engineers in the office for this same reason. He’ll explain to them the faults in their designs and they brush him off like he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. They won’t even come onto the job site to see the projects in the field because ‘they know what they’re talking about.’
They’ve had to do 10’s of thousands of dollars worth of revisions to designs that my husband originally told them wouldn’t work (this just happened on a city job out here and it happens often) 🙄
I dealt with this a previous job log ago. I told corporate they are bundling products that are completely incompatible in the sales ad and they were basically like "oh well, it's out already". It's like sending out pc parts with macs. I told my guys that if anyone asked everything was sold out because the sale was so good lol.
As an embedded hardware and software engineer, I've had the same experience.
Managements sole purpose, is to spend 10 cents on saving a penny.
I had a parttime job as server admin, during my university years. Explained management that they had to replace their old failing server, for about an 8K USD new one. They said that there wasn't any money for a new server. Three weeks later the CEO drove a Tesla, and sales got a 10K USD smart-board they were to incompetent for to utilize to it's full potential. I quit and they had a huge server failure less than 6 months later.
Then at my first engineering job, after graduating. There I would get 3 weeks to finish a project, yet ordering parts and equipment took at least 6 weeks. Management refused to believe me, when I said that I can't start on a project without equipment.
yeah us engineers want to make a good design, and we can. but finance people are evil.
1000%^ this. They will break the spirit of any newbie. Engineers optimize for function, management optimize for production cost and get the only say in it.
Man, when Sandro said ‘honestly , anything you buy nowadays is gunna be crap’ I felt that. I’m a mechanic by trade and I would take a 20 year old car that’s been garage kept over ANYTHING new
That's why I'm keeping and maintaining my old Ethel 99 suburban
I'm not even a mechanic or engineer and i still hate the build quality of my new Suzuki XL6
So true. I work in an assembly plant, matter of fact the jeep assembly plant lol. Higher ups don’t care about quality and just push cars out.
I drove a brand new volvo v90 and first thing I see is a big plastic piece just completely broken. Amazing.
@@suqmadiq1859 it's sad quality went out the door, all for money for their big ass bonuses.
I’m an engineer at one of the big three. A lot of times we’re not given a choice to fix stuff like this. I do all my own mechanic work so I definitely know the pain. But it’s mostly just these companies not caring, not the people that actually designed them. Would be fun to be on this show as an engineer with the mechanics …
Sounds like Engineer like to develop cars by trial and error.
Stuff that can leak should not be able to leak on a vital part, that should be implemented in the first draft. Error happens, but most of these engineering problems are problems you can see in CAD, long before the first car is made. They should not need fixing, they should never have been there in the first place.
Easy to blame management, but in truth it is mostly sloppy engineering work to begin with.
Yeah get on the show!
Design it right the first time but you can't because you think you're all smarter than everyone seeing as how you over payed for a piece of paper
@@mikemitchell9157 I presume that was directed at me. I'm sorry, but there are some basics in there that every engineer should know. Having a team of engineers make those mistakes is pathetic.
And I don't think I overpaid... I simply didn't get my paper in the US, but from ETHZ (ranked #7 in the world), for less than $10k (and that is even less if you consider that around here, a cashier ears around $4200/month).
@@mikemitchell9157who tf hurt you?
I had a trusted mechanic my family used for over 30 years and I personally used for about 20 years before he unfortunately passed away on the job from a heart attack. I'm not a car guy so before I would buy a new vehicle i always asked him his opinion of it. A couple of times he let me know to stay away from certain vehicles because of things like this. He never steered me wrong. I really miss him.
I feel ya on that. I've been using my mechanic for 24 years, I moved out of state 2 years ago and literally drive back to him whenever I need anything done. Good honest mechanics are worth their weight in gold
As an old mechanic waiting on a hearr attack. Trust your mechanic, not the shop he works for. Get to know us, and we will not steer you wrong. No pun intended.
have a drink and celebrate him, fallen men get forgotten easily
@@robertparamore2863 I was lucky because his father owned the shop when my family was originally going and he had taken over after his father retired by the time I was going to him. He died young though. He was only 54.
I have a similar person luckily he’s my father in law, dude knows everything about everything, especially if it’s a ford or mercury
Would be really cool if Donut could get some industry engineer's in to talk their perspective and why/how these design choices get made. Nobody engineers a POS on purpose. Some constraint somewhere had to force a trade-off if they were aware ahead of time.
Alot of it actually comes down to Executive Descisions to make the Owner go to a Ford Dealership instead of a Normal Repair shop that also way they put some stupid Unique Bolt that requires a Special tool to remove most of it is about Greed and the Automotive Industry is Heavily Anti Right to Repair
Id watch the shit outta that
Isn't Jerry at donut an engineer? You should get him on these episodes
I can't speak for the automotive world. But as an engineer, I can tell you there are people above us that force us to do things a certain way because of cost, looks, or just they like their idea better. I've also been told to design things to fail more so we can sell more spare parts.
They say here's this engine make it it.
I’m a simple man. I see Sandro I hit the like button 🤷🏽♂️
Amen.
Lovely man
For the boys!
facts brother
Sandro is my rabbi
You're gonna love this! A modern Porsche requires you to remove the entire engine to.... replace the spark plugs.
Jesussssss that’s actually so insane
Where are they located you can’t change plugs
They took inspiration from the Ferrari F355
Making the same design decisions they made when making tanks I see.
I was scrolling through the comments, scrolled past this one and had to do a double take, just spent 30 sec trying to find your comment again just so i could say;
What the actual fuck?! Why???
Sadly, it's often not the engineer's fault. It's called the engineer's paradox. Doesn't matter how much you scream until you're blue in the face, some pencil-pushing corporate shill is gonna require things get done in a way that engineer specifically says "you can't do that because [insert reason]".
As an engineer, I've had to walk off a job because I was being told to do something that would be unsafe for the operators (industrial setting) and refused to do it. Told them that if they did it, I wouldn't continue on the project. They acted like they were backing down and I came in the next day and they'd done exactly what I told them not to do during the night shift. I don't play around with safety and I wasn't going to let my name be attached to someone's death. I walked off the job that instant.
yeah there are sometimes design or space constraints that force an engineer to do some things a certain way. Of course if there were a mechanic on the team maybe some wouldnt go through, but there are some that are just not able to be fixed without a ton of resources being poured in to fix the issue
Kudos.
thats not believable because they can always jack up the price of the vehicle
@@williamschaeffer5606 - Unless it's a Ferrari or a McLaren they will loose sales doing that. :-(
I see the word engineer b4 paradox. I'm blaming the engineer. Get use to it Mr Engineer.
"I don't blame covid, I blame us."
Sandro with the based af takes as usual. My dude kills it every single time.
Yeah.I'm seeing this everywhere now. Corporations don't care, managers don't care, workers don't care...even doctors don't care. Everybody wants their money and then they want you out of their face.
More like blame china
@@Nessal83 Who gave away all their manufacturing to China?
@xXSPADEGG who bottle blue down fast right?
@@Nessal83 Can you try again in English please?
A few years back Jamie Hyneman, of Mythbusters fame, wrote an article for Popular Mechanics where he ranted about this very issue and blamed too much dependence on using CAD to design things with too few engineers ever having to bark their knuckles on actual machinery.
I deal with it all the time at work, it's annoying as all hell. They design processes in CATIA under absolutely sterile and perfect conditions with no room what-so ever for error. Then they get all upset when the real world comes crashing down on their nonsense.
Why is CAD to blame?
@@alan62036Because everything fits perfectly when designed with CAD however there is no afterthought for remedial work to be done to any components that could be designed/positioned poorly
@@NemotheEngineer But that happens with drawing as well
@@alan62036 yes drawings are one thing but almost all modern drawings are designed within a CAD program
6:34
Speaking as a production operator at TNAP (Toledo North Assembly Plant) where the Jeep Wrangler is built, the electrical problems on the wranglers are a supplier issue. But for other issues it’s definitely the workers lol
I worked for Polaris at the Roseau plant, in the warehouse picking parts, I cannot tell you how many times a day the line workers couldn't be asked to get their part orders in before a line stop was inevitable, I am with you that some problems are supplier issues while a lot of problems are caused by tweekers doing their jobs incorrectly.
As an accountant, I can say this: people with an economic degree get way to much power in lots of companies. A lot of them also think they know everything there is to know, so why should they not push their ideas thru?
Which is why I'm not an engineer. Well, I am an engineer, but I'm not that kind of engineer... I digress, the first pencil pusher, no offense, that insisted I do it his way, I'd be like, sounds like you don't need me, I'm taking the rest of the day off, you design it. And I'm hitting the golf course.
A lot of those bad engineering decisions are really made by the accountants, not the engineers. If a manufacturer can save $2 per car by simplifying a mold or a stamping, they will, even if it reduces serviceability
Exactly what I heard from some people from r&d, not mentioning problems because car is supposed to be launched on a special date, ready or not.
Shareholders and investors are the root cause of all of these problems and more.
They don't care about the company, the employees or the customers they serve.
All they care about is seeing a green line go up and it had better be steeper next quarter or else.
It's a sick and perverse system that ruins everything in the name of pure unleaded greed.
For some parts a 2¢ savings is enough to drive a decision
@@TheWaldowski 2 cent on one part times milion cars....times 1000 parts it goes up really fast.
was going to post this same thing VAVE is the term for telling the engineer to make it cheaper, use less screws, make it out of plastic or the cheapest pot metal. then use less plastic and cheap pot metal.
I love how BeeJay knew immediately where the Acadia’s power steering leaked before the mechanic even showed the clip. I love how knowledgeable these men and women are. Well done.
You need to add one more option, cost accountants. Many design decisions by engineers get blocked by the brand accounting division as too costly to build.
I once looked through some old car review magazines from the 1960s and one very interesting criteria they covered back then which isn't today is the ease of maintenance. They actually judged cars by how accessible everything was if it ever needed repair or replacement. Can you imagine how today's cars would be looked upon in this way if any automotive journalists cared to do so??
They would be absolutely annihilated😂
Honestly that is still very much a necessary criteria. Think of much labor is added onto jobs because it’s in a location that’s hard to work in
There's something called "design for assembly", which also covers disassembly. Unfortunately my design work involves the equipment used to make car parts, so when I do incorporate ease of assembly/disassembly, it only benefits the maintenance techs. Little things like measuring wrench thicknesses to make sure you can fit a flat, etc. is all part of my mindset. Don't have much control over what we're making when handed a product to build.
Keep in mind engineers often say "hey, problems will arise if you cost cut" and the paper pushers say "itll be fine we need better marigins" and voila
It's in the future. Doesn't affect them. Corporate lives by a financial quarter at a time. Gotta hit those projected revenue numbers no matter what. Causing problems down the road does not matter, next quarter is the only thing that matters
Precisely. The management just says that that's the next guy's problem
Speaking as an engineer. We work really hard to design these products. They go through rigorous testing and we have teams of people combing through the designs to identify potential issues like this. BUT we also work in the real world despite what people think. We don't have infinite time and money to revise issues. Some of these issues are caused by poor management, communication, pressure from accounting, or a whole host of other issues. We get a lot of flak for when things go wrong but it takes a whole team top to bottom for these flaws to make it into production.
You had me at poor management bud as a young guy I’m learning how easy it is for management to fuck up literally anything and not give a shit 😂
Also a good point. Ford Escort 1980-87 model was designed by committee, and it showed. I needed a full set of wrenches to do maintenance on it, could never reach anything that needed to be serviced, it was a nightmare. Don't design cars by committee. Also, on AKE-class naval support ships, you can clearly see the dividing line where the forward end design team and after end design team's remits meet, because all the pipes, wiring, and ductwork in the main deck overhead takes a jog in a random direction, because not only did they not match it up, they didn't even run them in the same place. Some channels even *cross* because of this. I feel so sorry for the guys who had to actually figure out how to match all that stuff together and fix the design teams' problems!
@@Vinemaplethat's the mechanic...
@@gypsy6211 You're going to need to be more specific
Design it right the first time. Yall wanna make em all compact so everything is a nightmare to work on quit making excuses you just think your shit don't stink cause you over spent on your education
My dad had a kill switch on our old car. It was a Lada Samara. 😅
He also put a safe lock on the reservoir cap. To be fair some local kids used to syphon off gasoline to run their bikes.
Can we have a video series of Sandro showing us how to fix stuff? You know he’d do it for the boys
I saw a comment on the last video that they should make a shirt with a wrecked lowrider that says “For The Boys” above it and I would buy one immediately 😂
Did you say Sandro on low team?🤔🤔👀
The booiissss.
Sandro with the best takes, love that dude. The problem isnt that car companies are trying to make money, the problem is they are trying to make ALL the money.
you should include management... i have some friends that are engineers and sometimes management overrides their designs/decisions just based on cost and timelines.
Yeah, another commenter brought up a point that the engine is probably used in a couple models and they either weren't given the time to check the clearance or they did, but management didn't want to wait for the updated paperwork and designs for this part on this model car and overrode the engineers. Someone also might have complained about having to have a different bolt for one model and the added cost of stocking that bolt for repair shops and stuff.
My favorite car fail was when I found out you can put the clutch in backwards in a 2005 k series civic was a pretty entertaining night learning how the car reacts to that interesting situation
how does it react? sounds interesting
@@onbored9627 basically it acted like it was a automatic at idle would go forward with no input but wouldn’t go any faster and reverse was 1st gear sort of it was really weird wouldn’t recommend
Thats a big oof, didn't know that was possible so thanks for sharing. As much as I doubt I'd do the same anyway. Hope you got it running right.@@Priest8776
I knew an engineer working for Prodrive. He claimed a lot of engineering problems are caused by the stylists. He called them 'crayon fairies ' their designs have to be followed and they expect engineers to make their designs actually work.
Pedestrian impact means powertrain has to be substantially clear of deformable exterior surfaces.
This is a good point...
As an OEM design engineer, can confirm.
@@buffalowt5582 Yeah. My father is a "Construction Supervisor" and very often he is asked on opinion. He usually answers that "Looks should be evaluated by investors, not constructors". But very often he informs on how much yearly it will cost - or tells them to ask that question another specialist. Eh. hidden roof gutters - it is beatuful, but electricity for this can cost several time the gutter costed itself.
Generally every shape is possible, but then either engineer or assembly will send you a warning, which they will later print to be able to defend in court, that they informed it's bad decision.
Stylist's stupid motto : "your functions must follow my forms"
I'm a computer engineer, but had a number of friends that were mechanical. They all basically told me there is so little they get to determine on things like cars. Usually, accountants and managers push them to do stuff they don't agree with. There are so many regulations you have to follow on top of all the cost savings you are expected to have. So it's usually not an engineers fault, but the fault of many different variables in the process.
they must be playing you my man, I have seen few manufacturers where a bolt is just facing wrong the way which would end up making a difference between getting the component out there and then and dropping the whole engine. Screw these engineers.
Exactly, engineers don't want to send a bad product. There is always an accountant/manager/project director that screw things up and stop the engineering process before they are able to fix all the little things. The product is sent and when shit hit the fan they will already be gone so why would they care.
@@itsnotfunny8257 More than likely the engineer said to put it the correct way but the manager/manufacturer wants it the wrong way so that its more difficult to do the job. That way they are more likely to bring the vehicle back th the dealership for the work.
@@itsnotfunny8257 it sounds like you have an office job
@@FavoritesAG ja not speaking about the government where are talking mechanical engineers go home karen
I am an engineer and I always talk to the guys "in the field" when I design anything at all! I wish more engineers did this.... I've seen this sort of thing happen over and over again. Communication is key!
Nah, just make engineers spend every third year as a tech doing warranty repairs.
@@kd5nrhtoo generous. Make that every year.
Yea ok Kool fake story
I've heard of many cases, had some first hand, of "in the field" guys attempting to communicate with an engineer, so far, universally, their reaction was "who do you think you are, I'm an engineer", won't even hear you out before deciding you're a dumbass.
Egos you wouldn't believe, they get real angry, or at least condescending.
I'm sure not everyone's like that, but apparently most are.
Also an engineer and I do all my own work on my vehicles. When I previously made subflooring, getting feedback from construction workers on how to improve the product was a part of the job. The guy calling it "fake" doesn't know the industry.
As a mechanical engineer I really appreciate this feedback and I think every automotive design engineer should get experience as a mechanic
They should start out as a mechanic so they can see just how stupid some of these money saving ideas actually work in the field.
@@DavidEdwards9801 they are aware. Problem are usually the bean counters.
Aerospace Engineer here. I agree that engineers will make flaws during their design process, but you gotta consider the costly factors (accountants/project management) that are way more controlled than the design procedure itself. Big companies tend to cut corners and shave expenses as much as they can, thus consequently affecting the design (materials/ tooling/ safer designs) and assembly procedures. Another factor to consider is the miscommunication between the engineers and the QC sector. It’s very common to see no communication between them to claim and point out the flaws before the product gets approved for mass production. Again, the bigger the company, bigger the problems…
Maintenance however is taken into account in aviation engineering. It's not in automotive. Take the bolt in the video for example, that requires an engine out to remove the tensioner. You aren't designing a removal of a JT8 in order to access the accessory gearbox, yet we find that in the automotive world constantly...
same; was an engineer for Martin Marietta during the Lockheed merger years. Quite a bit of headbutting between design engineers and manufacturing/production engineers
As a dealer tech for 16 years, these are examples of why I am now an engineer, to try and prevent stuff like this
You're doing God's work. Hahaha!
Lobby in DC to get rid of all this "environmental protection" crap.
@@alankleinman526 the environmental protections are mostly not to blame
Have you seen the excess crap on engines because of the epa nonsense?? Have you ever worked on an engine?
@@hhstarwars have you seen the state of the earth recently?
One of the problems with component access on engines is that the same powertrain is fitted in a multitude of different vehicles, and they don't always allow for all applications at the design stage. This applies particularly if an existing powertrain is shoehorned into a car that was never intended to have it.
I have a VW MK4 Beetle; perfect example of engineers being forced to jam a Jetta/golf engine into a tiny engine bay. We had to drop the engine to get enough clearance to change the AC compressor 😂
I think a good example of that in this video is the Traverse; those 3.6 LLT engines were designed for longitudinal applications (FR). Likely, that tensioner bolt has plenty of room in all those Zeta platform cars, but finds that frame rail in the Lambda platform vehicles.
I bet whoever made the decision to place that engine, as is, in a transverse application, didn't let the engineers fix it. For cost reasons. It was likely management, with input from accounting.
My uncle was an engineer for one of the big 3 and regularly complained that they compartmentalized to the point that they didnt know what was going around what they designed. He said that he had asked, many time, what went around what he was designing and the respo se was always the same. "This is what you are to design and this is the space you have to put it in." Then if asked again the next response was always "this is what you are to design and this is the space you have to put it in. If you ask again, we will find someone that will amd you can find a new job."
Im an engineer (aerospace electronics) I also work on cars (was and engineer for Chylser at one point) the issue is that a lot of engineers dont have the complete user experience in mind when designing things. And when they do, often time managment would force them to ignore it to save cost/time Before I design or make changes I consult with several technicians to make sure im not causing unnecessary pain points
And as a retired aircraft mechanic, I truly thank you for talking to the technicians.
I work in a heavy duty truck service shop, I can tell you 1 thing for certain…. Fuck Volvo semis. They make a truck that’s supposed to be streamlined for the consumer, however, they overlooked the need for maintenance and the effective ability for technicians to navigate whatever bullshit they throw at you. I want to know why in the absolute fuck Volvo felt a need to have 3 lube filters, and 1-2 fuel filters, when most trucks have 1-2 lube filters, and 2-3 fuel filters…. Not to mention it really seals those filters in in comparison and they’re stacked in a row too damn close together to effectively loosen all three and remove all three, gotta loosen 1 then remove 1, and they bleed, and you only get a 1/4” turn with a filter wrench at a time because you’re gonna keep hitting knuckles against leaf spring or frame… engineers y’all make shit the world needs, but sometimes y’all make shit unnecessarily “tidy” which results in tight squeezes that just make me want to make y’all start inventing tools for specific use lmao
"It's a Jeep so..." absolutely savage and too true. This is probably my favorite segment/series on all of TH-cam at this point. These three are keepers and Angelina and Sandro have to be mainstays. I say this on behalf of the boys
Its build buy FIAT now and Italians were never good at Electrics/Electronics.
O think even the old ones had a problem with the back door bending
Blame Daimler, and later Fiat, NOT Chrysler.
@@paulstandaert5709Chrysler and it’s brands (Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, RAM) should’ve stopped existing back in 2008.
I drive a 2007 grand cherokee and apart from the quadra drive system it's all Mercedes electrics and powerplant.
Civil Engineer here and I have just one thing to say about this whole matter, if I built a Bridge that fell down in a few years or a road that didn't hold up for decades, I would be sooooo fired. These are business decisions, same exact thing as when you go to a restaurant that is going down hill and they give you half of the meal you came back for. This is why you don't let them monopolize everything.
If you'd get fired for a road that didn't last FIVE years you clearly don't work for whoever does the entire intersate highway system. 😂
A lot of these problems are caused by bean counters. The long bolt in the pulley is likely used elsewhere. The kia ignition i'd almost guarantee is a result of cost reduction efforts.
How is Angelina NOT on the main Donut channel? She is smart, entertaining, articulate, and would be fantastic as a regular Donut host! Get that woman her own regular spot on the main channel ASAP.
Maybe she wants to be a mechanic...?
Angelina and Sandro are stand outs from this series they'd be dope on some spin-offs for sure
Angelina teaches auto repair at RCC. She's helping the world get more competent mechanics, one class at a time. :)
So, we're just gonna ignore the fact that on top of all of that, she's cute af....?
@@notyourusualsuspect6175 No thats why he brought it up obviously
I have designed hundreds if not thousands of automotive components. Every single component I designed had to go through a manufacturability and serviceability review. If there is a serviceability issue, I can almost guarantee that the engineers knew about it and were likely told not to worry about it by management.
I remember "don't worry about it" all too well, in medicine.
At the time I worked with a regional facility servicing hospitals with whatever was not available from registered market.
We'd want to standardise and bring to an appropriate scale for efficiency and minimal loss to expiration.
I'd always go through the basic questions: exactly what does the client need, how can we make this easier on staff to use, etc. Management did not like my wasting time, wanted to just make the product so we can sell it.
Some of our products were scrapped after the investment of validation, because the hospitals wouldn't buy it - staff said that it was too hard to use.
Some would be a wrong dose or volume compared to what was used by that dpt, others would be about selecting the wrong syringe type - the cheap one that takes a bit of force.
A nurse using a large number of these daily gets rsi.
Is more of a brush off thing or do they make it more complicated so people can’t work on their own cars at home anymore?
That is where consumer education becomes important. If consumers know which cars are easier to service because serviceability has been considered in the design process, they would consider that valuable as it saves them time and money when the car needs repairs. Then they will choose to buy more serviceable cars. There needs to be a company that designs a functioning car for the sole purpose of making it the most serviceable car in the world. Complete teardown.
Chrysler's 70-year stretch of making unreliable cars is truly impressive.
more like 90
That's what happens when they merge with FIAT, Fix It Again Tony.
@@ramonalvarez8559 that’s unbelievably racist. It’s American horseshit, GM has these issues and so does Ford.
@@TheCatOfAges I really date it to their metallurgy problems in the mid-'50s. There were some pretty great prewar Chryslers. Although let's not talk about the E-M-F debacle.
@@ramonalvarez8559 FIATs are turds but they weren't much better coming into that. Maybe they actually made FIAT better...lol
This is one of the reasons I love working on older cars. You're able to actually turn a wrench on them instead of having to get the front clip removed at a dealership just to change a battery.
Some of Sandro’s dead-pan one-liners are comedy gold.
I do have some sympathy for the engineers, because the real enemy are the penny-pinching accountants and PR people who want to promise the world…
Angelina is so awesome, as a female car enthusiast who watches every single Donut video that comes out, I love when she makes appearances. She’s smart, funny, and a great representation of a knowledgeable female mechanic. Would love to see her in more stuff! (But all of them are great)
I'm glad I'm not the only one to throw mad props her way.
Agreed!
6:16 "well, its a jeep, so..." LOL that had me laughing for real!
Just Empty Every Pocket-JEEP
Helped a friend change his rear rotors on his ‘16 compass. You can’t take the calipers off unless you bleed the brake lines.
@@F9109-r1e I'm a Jeep bro... from like 2005 back, but the new stuff sucks. The old 4.blow inline six goes 100s of thousands of miles without a care.
*Fiat
My mom had an Acadia growing up and that car was in the shop more times then I can possibly count. That checking light was basically a strobe light.
Sandro is a straight shooter no BS, I would take my car to him in a heartbeat. And I respect his viewpoint on all new cars being 🗑️
Sandro is the dude you go to when you can’t get your car started no matter what you try and he get it’s up and running in 20 minutes and says “yeah bro you should be solid for a few days”
I was a mechanic and boy did I see some very big fails:
- Renault Twingo Mk1, the airbag cover could cut into your arm on deployment
- Alfa Romeo 156 V6, the oil filter was to long for the space given (towards the firewall) so you had to cut it into pieces
- Ford Explorer V6 4.0 (Mk1), the spark plugs were behind the inner wheelarches so had to drill into them or remove the engine
- Renault Espace V6 3.5, they stuffed a Nissan VQ35DE engine in there so you had to remove the entire intake to get to the spark plugs
- Land Rover, on a lot of turbocharged vehicles the loom for the turbo actuator is mounted and routed in such a way that oil leaks into the engine harness that leads into the ECU shorting it out and a leak is guaranteed
- Renault Clio Sport Mk2 and 3, there's not enough space to pull out the idler pulley or get to the timing belt tensioner so you either cut into the front support or get the engine out
And a more general thing I've seen:
- Body on frame vehicles made by GM, Chrysler and Ford for the US market tend to complete rust out within 5 to 6 years in winter conditions due to very poor quality sheet metal and rust prevention
There are a ton more but those yre some from the top of my head.
@bruh the French have this strange problem where they have to be the first to use a technology, if they understand it is secondary.
And they have to do it their way, which is almost always backwards or upside down
Let's be honest, that's not the only fail you saw on an Alfa Romeo 156..
I’m confused, if the oil filter has to be cut in pieces to remove, how do you put a new one back in?
@@VinceRiviera you mean like that one time I had to replace a clutch 3 times within not even 200km because the factory kept packaging clutches for the 2.0TS and Fiat Bravo HGT as 2.5 V6 compatibile?
Or those front shocks that blew so hard that they almost shot their pistons through the bonnet?
@@HFMartini6 Yup, sounds like Alfa's alright
My 2018 Ram 1500 has a problem with the oil filter location. Every time I do an oil change there is a huge miss because of where the filter is.
Sandro, “On that f*cking traverse!”
Justin, “How much would you charge someone?”
. . . . Sandro, “I wouldn’t do it again.” I’m dead 💀
Angelina inspired me to work on my own car instead of taking it to a mechanic that would charge me the girl tax :D did my first oil change and brakepad change today, feeling inspired to learn more thanks to her!
That's awesome. Glad to hear it!
She's hot as hell too! 😍
Even just having knowledge of a problem will sometimes keep mechanics on the straight and narrow. Also, find yourself a mechanic you can trust, even if it costs you just a tad more than another place, if they aren't selling you something you don't need, it's worth it. Talk to friends and colleagues, word of mouth is a powerful ally.
I had a Camaro with a repeating problem of front brakes locking up. Three places I went to said I needed all new brake calipers. Took it to a place my friend recommended and they said it was just a bad brake hose. Cost me $120 instead of the hundreds from the other places. Of course, that was long before I really learned what to do with brakes, now I do everything myself.
Rock on!!! That's where it starts. Few years ago, I was doing my oil changes, then brakes, and last year I did a head gasket and this year a major head job with new valves and a ton of awful suspension work. Your knowledge and capabilities will start to snowball now that you've begun. Keep it up!
Grats. The brakes were the last thing I ever worked on myself out of fear. Car not moving is one thing, not stopping while moving is a worse thing lol. Had a bad experience with a garage that finally pushed me to doing it myself.
Sandro is the MVP of mechanic reacts
I have some engineering experience, and while I’m thankful that people in the comments are defending engineers, it’s still not completely fair to blame problems on the marketing and business side. Often engineers don’t consult with the business side enough to prevent designing something that will be too costly or risky. The business side may not know the technical processes behind a product, but they are damn good at guessing the result once it hits the market.
Product design is a team effort, so when problems happen it is a team mistake.
On the old 1980s-1990s Ford Tempo/Topaz we used a hole saw to cut a hole in the inner fender to get the crank pully out. Strange part of the story, there was a dimple on the inner fender/frame rail with the exact place to drill to access the bolt.
Big up SANDRO is so amazing and funny 😂😂 much love for real mechanic stuff ❤
I had a friend back in the day who was/is an engineer for one of the big 3 domestics who used to show me designs on his laptop at the bar and ask my opinion as a tech. I think more engineers ought to do that.
That's nice! If my gut is telling me that a particular design is going to be an issue, then I get in contact with the people who are going to be making the stuff to verify it is actually feasible.
That would be way too sensible.
But then there are things that you think you might have to take half the car apart to get at and you find they actually DID figure it to where you can do it without too much hassle.
The worst is where you need a $50 tool that only works for one thing.
Most engineers want to create perfect products but management is a ball and chain that keeps us back. I don't know how many times i have found problems with our designs and management just say "ok, so we file an exception" and leave it like that.
They should, but the bean counters on the upper management will just disregard their feedback if it costs more anyway.
For Escape had a blown alternator. Researched before trying to replace. Dropped it off at NAPA. THEY had it ready 4 hours later. Raised the engine, lowered the transmission, and replaced the spark plugs at cost as a courtesy.
Alternator was between the tranny and engine by the firewall and I front of the spark plugs
For the first Video, As an engineer i probably know what happend. That engine is probably in a few other models aswel, and the might not have checked the clearance for removing that bolt. The reason for the bolt being so long. Its probably that that bolt was already used somewhere else on the engine and used again to receduce the bill of material. Therefore having to buy less kinds of bolts and reducing costs becouse inventory cost a lot more than u think :)
Now, convince them that torque-to-yield bolts with nonstandard threads are a waste of material, since they can't be reused.....for anything. Total dick move. You'd have to melt them down to recycle them.
@@vilefly I've never heard of those types of bolts before, but they sound like a terrible concept. One use bolts? really?
@@GSBro Yup. You torque them down tight until the bolt stretches a certain amount, which provides maximum clamping force for a given thickness of the bolt. Once stretched, you cannot reuse them unless you want to press your luck with potential breakage. Now, make it 7/16 inch diameter with 1.50mm thread pitch. There are no nuts or thread taps sold to match that oddball combo. Useless after one use. Dick move.
@vilefly cylinder head or conrod bolts are fit and forget unless there's failure. If you don't use mongrel bolts the engine winds up 5 or 6mm longer, and won't fit the vehicle.
@@johnwade1095 You have only a little experience. I am 53. Been rebuilding engines a lot longer than you. Still working as a certified master mechanic. The engine won't fit the vehicle. Get out. You have a torque sequence you have to follow or you will distort something. That has always been there, whether cast iron or aluminum. Mongrel bolts, as you call them never broke for me, back in those days.....unless you ran nitrous or a supercharger on something that was never designed for it. You wouldn't be rebuilding the engine unless there WAS failure in the first place. I need to stop ranting about this....getting whipped up into a frenzy over nothing these days. Crabby old man cussing at everything. Crab..crab....crab.....doublecrab.
Sandro’s “that’s why he lost his hair” was savage 😂
We have 3 mechanics stationed across Canada and their sole job is to take our equipment into the field and replace components. Then they report back to the engineers on how easy or difficult it is, and adjust accordingly.
What company
That kill switch reminded me of what I used to do with my Beetle; take out the rotor from the distributor (cap was clipped on).. Good luck starting that one 😂
As someone working at Audi..that leaking issue is actually very very common lol
Thanks for saying that, I was thinking about buying a Audi. I think I will stick to VW.
@@EgonTheGreat. VW's have the same kind of issues. The drain tubes from the sunroof tracks get clogged with stuff and need to be cleaned out.
@@EgonTheGreat. Same platforms, probably the same sunroof designs.
@@chrisbutterfield8743 well then, good thing I don't like sunroofs.
@@EgonTheGreat. That seems like a great idea.
6:53 “California Lemon Law” . We had a brand new corvette one time that kept having electrical issues . The Chevy dealer was giving us a hard time so we looked up a lemon law lawyer online. We sent him the paperwork and he calls Chevy . He takes a cute and we get a check for the price of the corvette in the mail. Super easy. You do have to take the car into the dealership 3 times though. Everything was done over the phone with the out having to meet the Florida based lawyer. 👍🏻
This is why, as a mechanical engineering student, ive taken a technician job to pay for school. I dont want to be the engineer who forgets about the mechanics
That's what I did too, but once I graduated I figured out that engineers don't make these decisions. It will be someone with a business degree telling you that we don't have it in a budget for that change, so just keep it as it is.
Unfortunatly unless you get to the top position there is a good chance you can bring up concerns only to be ignored. The auto industry is infamous for their "recall math". Aka "how many people have to die, be seriously injured, or kill/injure some other person before the cost is worth it to actually fix a problem we are more than aware of". Factor in the number of vehicles produced and theur have been times a 50$ part with sub 1 hour labour was considered bad business to let the public know (their customers). Somehow i feel how little human lives seem to be making mechanics upset doesnt even cross their mind. Like mentioned in the video, if it can stay together until the warentee expires no one gives a fuck. I miss the days of toyota buying a brand new tacoma to the guy that had 1 million miles on his old toyota sedan( his grandpa bought it, gave it to his dad as his first car, his dad did the same) all they did was change the oil exactly when required and even admited to ignoring a bunch of other "required mantinance" and still had no problems. Everything is build to fail today
Doing that rn. started maintenance tech at 16 doing mechanic Jobs, hoping it pays off at the end of my electrical engineer career
I worked in shipbuilding and now in plant maintenance, I can sympathize. I was alway told "you're a mechanic, you can figure out".
My favorite became a recall. Aluminum battery ground cables. They work great in the salt belt. Whats even better is they didnt crimp the battery lugs on. Instead they butted them together and hoped epoxy and heat shrink would hold it together.
What car?!
@@Split0069 2023 Freightliner cascada used them and had a recall shortly after. On the automotive side gm used them in the 70's
Someone else commented to get some engineers on here to also give some insight. That's a really good idea because from what I understand a lot of times, engineering teams oftentimes develop different systems of cars separately and then come together afterwards and don't catch things that could be issues on the line
I think of this a lot. It must've looked good on the engine stand.
I love this channel. I'm guessing a lot of "bad engineering decisions" are actually "know nothing spreadsheet managers wouldn't listen to the repeated, increasingly desperate, warnings of the engineers who finally abandoned hope"
It’s corporates trying to save 1 dollar on a $24k car
@@ryandowning2956 I’m not justifying it, but imagine that 60 times on one car, let’s say the f150. 1.86 million were sold in the us in 2022, that is more than 100 million dollars saved, and that’s just with one model
@@chm1ata No that literally is how they are justifying it.
The Chevy traverse example above is how they can take the same exact engine assembly that's used in multiple vehicles and drop it in this one without changes.
That saves them a couple bucks... Even though it means you can't remove that bolt without paying an extra hour or more of technician time. But during the warranty period they don't really have to change that.. So it doesn't cost them anything substantial and the money says to just leave it alone even though it can't come out
@TravisFabel the Ford Escort Fx4 was worse. There was clearance between the bolt and frame, you could break the bolt loose with a wrench, get it finger loose, then back it out until about 1/4 of an inch was remaining at which point it backed into the frame rail. Then, if you didn't thread it back in nearly all the way, it would snap off on the engine mount as you lowered the engine to get it out...
Do more of these. Engineering or factory fail vids with these mechanics. They're fun to watch.
Sandro is on point. People have gotten lazy, and they are only concerned with quantity, not quality.
It would be AMAZING if you guys started a "Mechanics Review Cars" series - could be either video breakdowns by the car or segment overview videos! You could look at engineering quality, construction quality, ease and likely cost of repair, general value and coolness, and (Doug--style) mechanical quirks and features!
Love the Nolan - Angelina duo
I visited the Skoda factory in Mladá Boleslav, Tjech Rep. some years ago and there and then it became clear to me why these things happen. Engines, gearboxes, chassis, body and all kinds of other pre-assembled parts come from different factories in different countries. In the end the are fit together to make a car. To save costs, one type of engine is used in several car models. This means that sometimes an engine that fits model A perfectly, just about fits model B. Making modifications is expensive, so mechanics get bad surprises.
I don't remember what model it was, but the chassis complete with engine, gearbox, suspension, etc., rolled in and from above the body was lowered on to it. This all automated. No human hand in sight. I remember thinking: "nobody is ever going to be able to change that oil filter without lifting the entire engine".
Years later, I had to think of this, cause there had to be an engine part (I think it was the waterpump) changed on my own car (RAV4) and the garage manual (I like to know how things work) said 8 hours for the job, cause the engine had to be lifted out. When searching the internet, I found a (Toyota) mechanic, who said: "we actually just remove the wheel and the inner wheel well liner and than we can do the job without lifting the engine. Takes 2-3 hours". Then he added: "But you'll pay for 8". Mine was changed under warrantee, but nevertheless.
So sometimes mechanics find clever ways to circumvent these problematic 'bad design' situations.
“How much would you charge someone to do this job again”
“I wouldn’t do it again”
Spoken like a true experienced mechanic lol sometimes no amount of money is worth the headache
With him on that. I've worked on few cars that I would never touch again. In our place we call them snowballs, because fix one thing 2 more break, and just continues.
Gotta say, while i love Donut, this channel is brilliant. Sandro and Angelina are the stars here :D
I used to be a logger. We would always run into this problem with John Deere equipment especially.
We always had a joke that “the mechanic ran off with the engineer’s wife” lol 😂
😂😂
I worked as a production development engineer for a major diesel manufacturer and a joke that bounce around sometimes was that, we make the engine, then they make the frame or vice versa. Sometimes one engine is used across multiple companies and applications. As a requirement we had to do virtual fit checks with different tools to validate but due to many variables, cost, production release date, current headcount to redesign last minute design flaws is why designs aren’t always ideal
as a mechanic, from what i’ve seen and heard from engineers, it all really boils down to this. (like Ms. A said) engineers are forced to make things as cheap as possible and easy to assemble so factories can push them out. shit really does roll down the hill 😭
it's honestly almost always the accountants fault, they're told to make wall street numbers and know they'll never have to get their hands dirty.
Sandro is funny af😂 Let this guy host his own show!👍
Sandro’s face has the classic mechanic who has seen it all smile at the end
Ford F150 with twist oil drain plug hitting the sway bar when you pulling the plug oil going every where
"If it's getting a continuous false signal, it's going to continue to make bad decisions"
My life in one diagnosis 😂
Weird, by your name I wouldn't have thought you were a woman... oh, no, wait.... those ones continues bad decision making even with good signals and advice. Sorry, my bad.
Isn't Jerry an engineer? You should get him on these episodes
He’s still off camera bitching about accountants.
Mechanics hate engineers but they should hate accountants
Fuck accountants
He'd be in there defending the engineers haha. They want to design the best thing but the best thing is expensive.
@@Vanguardw which is why companies have people that make stuff worse to lower costs
There's a reason he wasn't haha. While engineer's absolutely do make mistakes, things are never designed in a vacuum. Most of the issues they blamed on engineers in that video come down to cost cutting over anything else.
Sandro nailed it, its everything nowadays, there is no pride in whats being built anymore on anything, we need to get our shit together ❤
Pride? lol there's no respect for the consumer, or anything but their own bottom line. It's not about what you can produce, it's about what you can convince someone to buy. Everything is MasterLock now, even books.
10:33 this is a great example of why you want a factory service manual, it would have told him to take off the skid plate 🤣
100 %
Sandro is an authentic dude... Love that guy.
I’m happy to see all these engineers speaking up! It’s easy to say it’s their fault, not the business people
The first mechanic video sounded like I did on my first heater core repair. Almost word for word
As a Manufacturing Engineer about to graduate from college - many of those manufacturing / factory faults I’ve seen happen is due to plant management ramping up the production line speed in the name of increasing production even when the assembly processes cannot be completed properly in that time span. You end up with a lot of product but product with faults instead of a properly assembled product. Some of upper management just sees the short term profit when in reality you tank your long term profit due to hurt reputation because of poor build quality.
Kia didn't forget anything. They just wanted to make a bigger profit.
Do a whole series of these featuring engineers and mechanics.
That’s a real mechanic response, “I’m just not doing it”😂😂😂
I love that comment at the end, "engineers think they live in this perfect world." I work on refrigerators and certified to work on LG fridges, so I run into my fair share of problems. A lot of these newer fridges are pretty much made in labs with controlled conditions. In a home, there are so many variables unaccounted for: Pets, outside temp, doors opening and closing, the cleaning of the back panel vents, drain tube(s) designs, and power surges/outages.
As for the oil drain thing, I agree, put a piece of cardboard there. I like to use the box for the new oil filter.
I worked in a quick lube place, and we had this really trick green rubber THING. Haven't a clue it's official name, was just the green rubber thing to me. But you could bend and mold it to the perfect position to keep it off of stuff. Really useful on Ram 1500's with the Hemi's AND 4wd. As the oil filter was directly above where the front axel would sit.
Still bad design. You shouldn't have to train for something like that
@@kurtsandoval7714 I mean, if you need training to deal with that problem, I don't know what to say. There are some pretty bad ones but that one's child's play. Speaking as someone who's first full time job was working at a lube shop, they could have found a video of a much worse design for draining oil over other parts. There's set ups where, unless you have a specialized flexible drain funnel, you're going to drain oil from the filter over electrical wiring, drivetrain parts AND the frame and I've even seen some where there's no way to place a specialized funnel so that it saves you, you just have to do your best to wipe it up.
And this is why i left mechanics school to be a welder, best decision i ever made
Engineers the type to put a long bolt next to the frame rail and then say “don’t hate the player, hate the game”
For the first one, since you can see the back end of the bolt and how much thread is and isn't being used, I'd put the bolt in all the way, then cut off as much as I can. Or, depending on where and what panel is blocking that bolt, I'd re-engineer the panel with a hole saw to make enough room for the bolt and a socket. That looks like frame tho, so probably not likely there.