Built-in boxes
03/08/2017
Are you one of those people who try to repair something on your car yourself? Then you might think like this letter to the editor:
"Almost all people involved with motor vehicles have so far given their little sins their best shot in this column, only one category I have missed so far, namely the constructors. Perhaps they would be more thought-provoking if they could hear the soliloquies of the harried mechanics who carry out certain jobs. I don't want to write down here the expressions that are sometimes used to describe the creators of modern motor vehicles; they are certainly not flattery.
What are we supposed to say in the workshop when we have to install an engine with a "shoehorn", so to speak, with the help of two men who somehow have to push back the sheet metal or even a wall with tire irons and the like? Couldn't the space required for this have been defined at the design stage? In the other corner of the workshop, a fitter is standing with a puzzled face because he doesn't know how to get a front spring out of such an "obstructed box" without using brute force. Even simple maintenance work sometimes causes difficulties. I could cite many such cases that make life difficult for us, but the worst thing is that it doesn't get better from model to model, no, the assembly work becomes even more laborious.
You can almost get the impression that the car factories are launching a major attack on car mechanics from time to time, with the aim of chasing them into other professions.
These sometimes avoidable difficulties in day-to-day work are certainly one of the reasons why car mechanics are becoming a "scarce commodity", because there are certainly more people learning this trade than are doing it today. Or do the various manufacturers believe that they can compensate for these engineered-in surprises during repairs by correcting the target time or fixed price list? (After all, you can't be more expensive than the competition for this or that type of work).
However, the fact that such measures reduce the efficiency of dealers and their businesses is probably completely forgotten.
A very important factor is the economy of a vehicle, and this includes good accessibility to all parts that can be replaced.
I believe it is worth thinking "to the end" in this area too, on behalf of many of those who suffer ..."
What may surprise readers of these lines in 2017 is the fact that E.W. submitted his letter to the editor exactly 60 years ago, at a time when there was still plenty of space under the hood compared to today. What would E.W. have thought if he had looked under the hood of a modern Audi A4?
P.S. The letter to the editor appeared in the magazine Krafthand 21/1957.
