I'm here to offer at least some defence for the engineers.

Some years back I was a product engineer for a manufacturing company. It was my job to balance all of the parameters given to me by a) the purpose of the product, b) the available materials, c) the time allotted to do the job, d) the projected consumer cost of the project, e) assembly and repair of the product, f) desired lifespan as decided by management, g) use of stock parts. etc, etc, etc.

Product design is almost always a compromise, and usually the engineer knows better than anyone how much he or she has had to compromise. A major part of that is support and philosophy of management of the company.

I guarantee the engineers aren't sitting there with malicious glee picturing struggling mechanics or owners. If you know how much pride you can put into your job, imagine an engineer not wanting to feel the same pride.

Oh, and engineers have good days and bad days too. Companies that care, hire the engineers that have proven they have very few bad days.

That said, I admit there have been days when I scratched my head over a design, too.

Ok, back to the stories...

__________________
MB 1986 190D in my past
MB 1987 300E on the street
MB 1994 'Smoke Silver' E420 in my driveway
1999 Mazda Miata in the fun stable
1964 E-Type Jaguar Coupe- Sold
1970 E-Type Jaguar Coupe- Sold
1968 Corvair Monza Conv. with Turbo Transplant- Sold
1986 Merkur Xr4ti- abandoned
various mundane American autos

If I'd known then what I know now...

Hell, I'd probably still have done it anyways.