From an evolutionary view, things should always improve over time. As for the auto industry, the progression of technology does provide customers with faster, safer, smarter, and cheaper products. In the evolution of engineering, however, something just goes wrong and even backward. Here are some examples:
Aluminum and carbon fiber exterior parts
In the past, most metal parts in a car were made of iron. With an eye on cutting weight, multiple materials have made their way into the car, and aluminum is the most widely used one. Although aluminum nowadays offers the same rigidity with less weight than iron, it is much more complicated to be molded. A piece of iron exterior part can be easily bent back to its shape, but an aluminum one must go through a complex process that costs a dozen or is replaced with a new one. As for carbon fiber, the only solution is to replace it with a new one since it cannot be molded afterward.
I once saw a BMW F10 that collided with others on the “death trigeminal point” — the outside edge of the headlight with the lid, bumper, and front fender connected together. The bump was not that bad, but the cost was worse.
Big tires and wheels
Large alloy wheels and large tires not only look good, but they can also enhance maneuvering. This comes with costs, however, since larger and wider tires are more expensive, and thinner tires designed for wheels over 20" absorb fewer bumps from the road and wear out faster. We see that flagship luxury models are all equipped with stupidly large wheels, but that actually harms the comfort.
Exaggerated visual design and fake decorations
In order to draw the most attention, cars are now designed to impress people, not to maintain aesthetic proportions. We see grilles growing larger over time and (fake) chrome trims attached everywhere from exterior to interior. -Mercedes-Benz S-Class, BMW 7-Series, and Audi A8 have the largest ever grilles of their brands. In contrast, cars from the late 1990s are conservative under today’s standards even though they were all considered superior.
Fake trims, fake vents, fake pipes, and fake rear diffusers are also dominating. People may think that carbon fiber trims denote the lightweight design, that vents denote the air intake for powerful engines and air dynamics, that large diameter pipes denote the power of the car and that rear diffusers denote the track-origin aero designs. Sadly, these are all fake on most cars, even the luxury brands like Mercedes and BMW. They are all plastic pieces without functionality that are well-engineered to deceive customers. One has to go for a Ferrari or a McLaren to get real ones.
The infotainment system and big touchscreens
The onboard computer interface, or infotainment system as most refer to, is supposed to help the driver manage the car. In the modern era, it loses its original purpose because car makers are using it as a feature to attract more buyers. It has to be fancy in the first place, and then the functionality. Some systems are so ill-engineered that they actually hinder direct access to controlling and adjustments.
Touch screens are now a popular solution to the infotainment system, and they can still be idiotic in terms of interface design. While bringing simplicity, touch screens are hard to use whilst the driver is focused on the road, and the light of screens is harmful to the eyes in a night drive. The worse thing is that they are not designed to be permanently turned off. They always light up suddenly when any change happens.
Turbocharged engines and fake engine sounds
Turbo cars were once considered unreliable and hard to drive due to the non-linear output, but nowadays almost all cars are turbocharged. Turbo engines can deliver higher power with less displacement and lower emissions. This is achieved by operating under higher temperatures and having more complicated components. They also lack the high-pitch-revving sound of NAs, and that makes fake pipe sounds popular. Surely are they better than before, but they are inherently flawed in terms of repairing costs and smoothness.
Since turbo engines do not deliver blood-boiling revving sounds, the sound device in the exhaust pipe is now extremely popular. Some cars even play fake sounds through the stereo inside the cabin. After cheating the eyes with fake trims, car makers are now cheating the ears with fake sounds.
Repairing
This is perhaps the most important issue of modern cars. In order the force the owner to switch their vehicle, cars are engineered in a way that will drive up the repairing costs after a certain time. Owning a car for more than 20 years is almost impossible now.
So how bad is the problem in reality? First, the car makers adjust their spare parts strategy, offering parts in a whole package rather than an individual piece. For instance, if the motor that folds the rear-view mirror breaks down, the whole mirror set has to be changed since the original part offering does not offer the motor individually. Of course, one can always resort to third-party mechanics for cheaper solutions, but that may lead to warranty issues with the original dealers.
Second, repairing is now extraordinarily difficult and costly. This may result from an intentional move or just a poor design. R&D engineers may put something that needs frequent maintenance in a place that is hard to reach. Take W203 C-Class for example. Its air-con evaporator is located deep under the center console, and the only way to reach that is to tear down the whole interior. That is, cleaning the evaporator could be a one-week task on a W203.
Third, components are designed to be short-lived. In the late 1990s, the so-called “environmentally friendly” material that dissolved after a certain period was widely used and fiercely criticized. Although this material is less used now, other parts attain similar characteristics. The turbocharger and the high-pressure fuel injection system suffer oil leaks and ultimately dis-functioning due to their high-temp and high-press inheritance. The engine with such designs may also suffer from oil leaks in the sealing point for the same reason. The ultimate solution is always getting a new component, or tearing down the engine for a large overhaul.
The last and the worst one is the abuse of electronics. Electronics are prone to small defects and could shut down without any sign in advance. Furthermore, the problem regarding electronics is more deep-rooted than it may seem superficial. A dis-functioning LED light may not be attributed to the bulb itself but the IC controlling module behind that. Thus, the whole set of chips and lines has to be replaced without the possibility of changing only the defective part.
