>Take a $50k car and you'll find same cost cutting measures!

My step mom bought an expensive Cadillac a few years ago when she retired, the electronically actuated glove box has never really worked well and eventually got to where it wouldn't open at all. The whole thing is a bunch of plastic parts that move together to release one side of the glove box and gravity is supposed make it slowly drop down, but the side that it releases is the far side from the motor that's actuating it, and due to slack in all the plastic parts it doesn't actuate enough to actually release it. It takes like an hour to tear it apart so that you can shave down the catch. Cadillac has had the car for months at a time to fix it and was unable to and also unable to get a new glove box assembly. One day me and my son tore it apart and just shaved the part down ourselves, something neither of the service notices for that common issue recommended.

Cars reveal a lot about this but it's not really specific to cars. Ad-ridden "smart" TVs, etc. The hacker mindset is not really special nowadays as everybody recognizes dumbing-down and cheapening in technology. Hackers used to like having an OS with a `sysctl` for every little tunable for the same reason that anybody should be able to change the spark plugs or battery in your car without spending an hour removing two cowlings and an air intake hose because everything is so tightly packed. My 2014 model car has two separate LCD screens for the driver, yet somehow the interface to deal with a problem is still an idiot light, or wipers waving out codes, and me borrowing somebody's OBD2 scanner. Resetting the battery management system, or the oil change involves obscure codes like pressing pedals or switches in a certain way as if I am trying to open a drug courier's secret compartment, and even then, I do not even have an option of knowing what the oil change interval has been set to. Forget about anything like a live readout, or talkback to my key remote so that I can know that my engine has started. It's these kinds of design issues that are presented as condescending black boxes. It is insulting when Python is taught to schoolchildren now. These things should be performed with care to completion in the face of economic pressure.

Yep! Eventually you might just give up and pick a medium cost one that seems to be OK. Top quality products are like lottery nowadays.

I paid $100+ for a Logitech mouse and thought it is a good enough price, but it broke down in just a few months. Fortunately they gave me a second one, but I don't know how long it lives!