I would suspect that the majority of 'new car' owners do not service their own cars, so the presence of a cover only serves to make the engine look a little less agricultural in appearence.. when showing their pride and joy to neighbours, they can quote big numbers while looking at the sleek design.. for those that do maintenance themselves, if they can't remove the cover, they should not be doing any repair work..
-- History is only the past if we choose to do nothing about it..
At first glance the plastic valence that you now see in all late models to
> cover the engine compartment from view would seem to serve no purpose. Why
> in the world would Chrysler spend money that would otherwise be available
> to lower the cost of its product, or better yet, buy a second fuel pump for
> the fuel tank so you don't get stranded down the road some day? After some
> reflection, I realize the brilliance of this useless piece of vestigial > polymer!
>
> Think, "No user serviceable parts inside this unit". When the owner lifts
> the hood, he is instantly intimidated. He will not ever attempt to do even
> the simplest routine maintenance or minor repairs as in the days of old.
> Not even an oil change or spark plug replacement. Chrysler has brilliantly
> planned it that way; every customer is now locked into $75 per hour shop
> rate for literally everything. If Chrysler is smart, they will make the
> crankcase drain plug of a trick design requiring a special tool available
> only to licensed dealers, to release it. That'll put the cabosh on those
> 20 Minute oil change joints as well as Saturday mechanics in one fell > swoop.
>
> You see now, Chrysler is cost conscious. They invest say $15 covering the
> mechanicals and get 100 times in returns for their dealerships and take a
> piece of the action for themselves as well. Its legal, for now, but there
> might be a legal theory to abate it.
>
> How do you suppose it got started and how wide spread is this new approach
> to business? Probably with consumer electronics. Not too long ago, TVs
> were full of vacuum tubes. When your set quit, you would take out all the
> tubes and test them at Thrifty Cut-Rate Drug Store. Replace the bad ones
> and the set was usually good for another six months or a year. But today's
> sets have only one vacuum tube in them. Nothing to fix. Therefore the
> maker puts this little tag on the back and tells you not to open up the set
> because its futile. You need to throw it away when it breaks down and buy
> new. This concept has now spread to cars and most other products that
> owners once tinkered with. Take the Ducati Monster 800 motorbike. The
> owner's manual instructs you to have the oil changed at the bike shop. You
> are not invited to do so yourself. Presumably you jeapordize the warranty
> if you do so yourself. I think car companies are going in the same > direction.
>
> They just about have to because they aren't making the money on selling new
> cars. By getting the dealers to do virtually all the work, they will keep
> their dealers healthy and the dealers will sell far more genuine factory
> parts, locking out the 3rd parties. Everything will be O.E.M. and that
> means profits. They will make profit on the back end instead of the front
> end. That is my conclusion.
>
> But there is a downside to purposely making servicing more difficult than
> it needs to. Since servicing will now be very much more expensive and for
> the second-hand market, prohibitively so, much servicing will be neglected.
> Letting parts like spark plugs, wires, belts, and hoses go is going to lead
> to sudden breakdowns and accidents as a result. This will come back to the
> makers as bad will, reputation for unreliability, high maintenance costs,
> and just plain cursing. Overall, it would seem the manufacturers will be
> the losers in this game of cat and mouse. Given that this might be
> considered bad faith action by manufacturers, there is the potential for
> class action lawsuits to abate policies that are contrary to public
> interests. Watch out Chrysler! Some of your customers are lawyers and
> ready for action.
>
> To illustrate just how much worse the serviceability has gotten just look
> at the Bosch Jetronic fuel injection system. You could yank out every
> injector with a pull for testing the spray patterns (qantity & quality)
> into test tubes. One jumper and you could energize the pump for testing.
> One pull on the air flow plate with a pair of pliers and you could actuate
> the injection system and make the injectors spray for testing. The only
> instruments needed to do a complete check was a fuel pressure gauge and a
> test light or voltmeter. The whole system was intuitive and documentation
> was complete, right down to temperature/pressure graphs. And one more
> thing, every part was out in the open for service, no valence covers. Try
> that with todays EFI system. Its utterly hopeless. Time for action, I say.
>