Changing out a bad starter motor is a five minute job for a high school boy...on a '53 Chevy. Two wires and two capscrews. Reach in and pull it free. That's it.
On my LeBaron, its two wires and four bolts and screws on the starter motor. Problem is you can't reach in and pull free. There's an exhaust manifold-to-body bracket blocking the motor to the right. The turbosupercharger blocks movement up and the right drive half-shaft blocks dropping down the starter. Its no job for a high school kid; its going to take a real expert like Tom Gale and he's going to spend a whole day on the job.
Some products we buy are immensely complicated, like a wrist watch, pocket calculator, computer printer, or television. But these items are cheap enough so we consider them disposable after the warranty period runs out. No attempt is made to repair them because even if you could find somebody who could actually do a fix, the parts (if available) and labor would exceed the replacement cost with new. Cars were different. I use the past tense, because we have entered the age of disposable cars. When it costs $500 or $600 to replace a starter motor on a 1988 LeBaron, the owner will think twice, particularly if other systems are worn. Add it up. $450 for a fuel pump, a couple of hundred for a timing belt, hundreds for repacking and replacing the CV boots and you have exceeded the value of the car for just a few maintenance jobs.
When Chrysler is building the car, an engineer has to rework a design if the manufacturing process requires an extra five MINUTES labor on the assembly line, for say installing the timing belt. But Chrysler could care less if an extra five HOURS is needed to field service the very same part. How else could you explain an engine mount blocking the removal and replacement of the timing belt (which requires the air conditioning mount to be unbolted first)? How else could you explain a lower plastic cover that is unremovable without destroying it? How else would you explain requiring removal of all accessory belts before the timing belt can be pulled foward and off? How else do you explain why the timing marks are not viewable directly orthographically save for a mirror view which distorts the picture? On this last point, the smart ass mechanic will use the flywheel "0" timing mark for TDC, mark the distributor rotor, and cam sprocket for reference instead of the factory sprocket marks (which were actually used at the time of manufacture)!
It is obvious that the power train is dropped into the chassis fully assembled on the line. This is the way it should be, but service is an afterthought, with many parts essentially unserviceable. To remove and replace the turbo is a nightmare. So is the fuel injection rail, engine head, transmission, steering gear, water pump, and just about everything else. The few exceptions like the radiator, battery, thermostat, spark plugs and air cleaner are okay, but give it time and Chrysler will figure some way to screw those up too. Even the side mounted oil filter is a pain in the ass because a clever vertical design will allow R & R without spilling a drop. Here that, Tom? Elegance in engineering doesn't ring at D/C.
When you select your next car open the hood and see what it looks like underneath it. If you can't find the starter motor, keep walking. If you can't see the spark plugs in plain view, look for a competetitor's product. Most consumers have long given up on servicing their own cars saying they will let a professional worry about it. That attitude is going to cost you through the nose and lead to premature junking of your car. A professional who has to struggle his way to injectors, plugs, adjustments, and various components is going to charge you about $60 an hour to do it. So an extra three hours on a timing belt job is going to add $180 to the job and that is no joke. Parts like timing belts and clutch plates should be a slip-out, slip-in, five minute job.
Chrysler: you continue to go in the wrong direction. Make cars simpler, not more complicated. Make them easier to access for service, not more difficult. Why do you put plastic covers all over the engine to hide things? This is stupid and expensive and no engineer on your staff thought up that one. Find out the suit who did and fire his ass. Put the money where it counts: into durability, reliability, simplicity, serviceablity, user economy, rationality. Do that an you might sell a Pacifica or two.