I'm gonna skip the long back ground rant about the things I hate about new cars and just vent on the latest reason: brake light switches and is a lock nut really too much to ask??

My girl picked up a brand spanking new 2020 Jeep Renegade Trail Hawk and yes, it is pretty much a Fiat 500 (L?) but she's happy and this should end me having to go pick her up at work when it snows. Youtube the overland test drive videos for yerself. All things considered, I'd probably be happier with a AMC Eagle but like I said, skipping that part of the rant.

She decided she wanted the metal pedal dress up kit and why not. Ordered it, opened the box, instructions by ikea but pretty simple. Slip new gas pedal over the old one and snap it in place. Unsnap original brake pedal pad and snap the new one in place. The big rubber nipple on the pad that goes in the hole on the plastic pedal doesn't unsnap that easily. Instead of just grabbing a utility knife and cutting the thing, I worked on yanking it off and finally got it. In the process I pulled the brake pedal up far enough to unsnap the plastic clip that holds the pedal to the power booster push rod. Fairly stupid design, fairly idiotic of me, didn't take that long to get it snapped back together - the first time.

Gave it a test, figured out that the car thought I had my foot on the brake. Not just brake lights on but shift out of park and push to start working without touching the brakes. Still 1/2 way in idiot mode I fiddled around with the brake booster clip until I decided I had it right the first time and the problem was the brake light switch got misaligned. I mean it doesn't happen on old cars but hey, not a complete idiot. Yes, I did spend entirely too long asking google where the @%@#$ thing was but it turned out to be time well spent because I learned a new thing to hate about snap together cars:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wo3G2XKxkbs

In the light of day, follow the plastic brake pedal until ya come to the plastic switch, twist it to unlock it, snap it out of the mount. Toss it over the pedals to get slack in the wire harness and unsnap the connector. Exact part different than the video but same idea except no convenient button top to pull out - ya gotta grab it with pliers and give it a tug and ya can feel it snapping to different lengths. Cork screw it back in and snap it in place and dang, didn't pull the plunger far enough out. Snap it apart, pull the plunger out some more, now it won't go back in because pulled it out too far. Back to google bookmarks and take note of what the default setting is - 17mm from tip of plunger to body of switch. Snap the plunger to that length, snap the switch back, working like new.

It "only" took like 8 hours to over think the whole thing and do what turns out to be a legit 5 minute job - if ya know what yer doing. My main aggravation here is that I shouldn't have had to if the @%#$ thing wasn't snap together in the first place. I mean what's so hard about loosen the lock nut, move the switch, tighten it back down that it had to be re-engineered?? On a side note, apparently I wasn't that stupid for screwing it up in the first place. Found a lot of forum posts about people getting their foot stuck under the brake pedal and doing the same thing trying to pull it out.

unreal .

Hey, if you can save a buck on the cost of a car times a million cars. That's a chunk of change in some execs pocket.

Side note its a shared vehicle with the 500 X

Reminds me of the time I got stuck somewhere with my '06 Charger SRT8 because of what is now known as "the pink thingy". The stupid plastic shift interlock piece. Don't get me wrong. LOVED that car, but anything they could do to lessen weight and lower cost to be competitive.

I get the economics of save a few seconds of assembly time x some number of parts x a few hundred thousand vehicles + less spent on small hardware. I also get the realities of designed to be easily recycled. I still find it freaking annoying.

If you want to see cost savings in action, look at the light duty 1997 F250 pickup. Some bean counter figured out that you could get sufficient clamping force on the rim with only SEVEN lugs instead of 8. Cost savings: 4 studs, 4 lug nuts, 1 less hole in 5 wheels, 4 hubs, 4 rotors, etc. I was a Service Writer at a Ford dealer back then, and I had a couple of customers come in VERY irate because they went to buy aftermarket wheels. One DEMANDED that we swap it over to 8-lug axles... We told him it wasn't possible and sent him to see his salesman.

Those stupid MOPAR nylon wiper transmission pivot bushings introduced in the mid 70's come to mind. I've gotten real good at scraping the skin off my hands contorting around under the dash replacing those. The aftermarket replacements barely last 2 - 3 years in any place with warm temps... i'd like to the bean counter who came up with that exquisite annoyance, especially when they fail in a rain storm and you lose your wipers...

Mopar still sells OEM wiper bushings.

Got an 08 Jeep Wrangler with a radio that has a loose connection. Can’t figure out how to get the radio out to fix it. No visible fasters. Has to be snap together 😡

[quote=redraptor
Hey, if you can save a buck on the cost of a car times a million cars. That's a chunk of change in some execs pocket.



[/quote]

i remember working on K cars and L bodies when they were new.
when they first were built the bumper energy absorbers, similar to suspension shocks, had 4 bolts holding them on each end. after a couple of years it was changed to 3. at the end of their life there was only 2 bolts holding them on.
later i read that removing 1 bolt saved Chrysler $200,000.

No doubt as it's been a thing for a long time. Dad had a mid 90s Shadow with a crap radio and I recall spending at least an hour looking for the screws holding any part of the dash bezel on. Found one in a boneyard and decided to just break it apart to find them. Grabbed a piece, yanked it like I was trying to break it, stupid thing just popped off. Oddly enough the radio was actually bolted to the console frame.

I always figured some of it has to do with weight savings too. Every little bit of weight saved helps with CAFE.

Recently removed headlight molding, grill, and headlights from my '79 Power Wagon. Not one single piece of plastic involved. Just a bunch of metal screws and metal pieces. What a pleasant experience. Same goes for removing the door panels to grease up some internal parts. Metal clips, screws, bolt for handle and window crank. So nice.

Had one of them fall apart today and of course it was raining. Don't think I've had one give up while randomly washing the wind shield. Didn't really bother me that much a) wasn't raining that hard b) got a drawer full of spares c) I'm used to it.

There is plastic nuts where the headlight bezel attaches to the grille but how often do ya ever take that apart and not like it falls apart when ya do. It's the plastic nut in the head light adjusters that make me wanna kill. Pretty much identical to the M body ones and ya may have noticed how the cheap aftermarket replacements break while yer installing them. Dunno where I picked up this trick but nylon licence plate nuts make great replacements.

I do have some NOS headlight adjusters that I'm going to replace soon on my Power Wagon. I should have done it when I had the grill off to clean, but time ran out. The low beams are dead on so I'm not in a hurry, but they do need replacing, and high beams are off adjustment. The originals seem to last a very long time. I have NOS wiper bushings too. Hopefully they aren't brittle. I had some that were. I have also found some aftermarket stuff to be crap (two years) so maybe I need some new ones if they are still in production.

Yo larryLOVEit... how does that M body front fascia and bumper SNAP TOGETHER?

I’m looking at this ONE PARTICULAR m booby and me thimks it’s the plan to st least consider taking that weight off

I can run sh*t down without hurting anything

Yup, had same issue with my 06 Magnum. . . glad it happened when it was actually parked in garage at home !!! . . . in pic you can see the little white spot on the pink plastic - thats where it supposed to have a little hook to hold a spring . . . over time, spring (even though it seemed not that much pressure) causes the plastic to break and stuck in park, shifter won't move !!

Dorman replacement part is made from aluminum !!! Not gonna break again - and it was only $40 ! One hour of time . . . crazy !

I went back inside, logged in Charger forum, and five minutes later I was on the road. Thank goodness for forums. I bought an aluminum one and changed it myself, despite dealership offering to change for free. I didn't want them tearing up my console