I listen to several auto repair Q&A podcasts. All done by competent independent repair shop owners. Under The Hood Show- I feel does more promoting and bragging of high tech bells and whistles- maybe because the OEMs have a hand in their sponsorship? The Car Doctor flat out says- "How does any body expect to afford to have all this stuff repaired in 5 years when it all stops working!!!!???.

I have a 10 yr old F150 FX4 and a 9 yr old Fusion. Tires, brakes and a batt in each. Not gonna complain about either. Now if ya want the endless list of crap I put in an 04 Ram at 10 yrs and 65 k just let me know. I'll start writing it up!

We haven't had many problems with our 6 year old fusion, the biggest have been quality control items but it is making noises in the front end right now. New battery last year and needs tires now.
I have an 04 Ram and it's been great.

every large corp/gov is going to have quality issues.
whatever you make/do gets screwed up due to
1. bureaucracy
2. risk/reward system
3. complex machinery or the system
4. we have always done it like this.

the sheer number of people a single "job" has to go through is just insane.
not the guy putting on the lug nuts. it is his boss, his bosses boss, the people that are required to get bids for lug nuts, someone that inspects them, the people that make them, their source for materials etc..
I am the poor guy on the line putting them on, but notice they aren't quite right.
on the best of days, it takes 10 people to decide and get them changed out with new ones. again not physically right there on the line. but to source new ones going forward. that car that day is screwed probably, especially now with JIT ordering.

if I am getting bonuses because cars are going out the door, anything that slows that down goes by the wayside.
I am supposed to do x y and z, but z gets the cars out the door, so I am going to skip x and y till someone catches me. or someone makes it important to me.
that doesn't happen till someone audits the production and if audit has no teeth, then nothing changes till regulatory steps in and the .gov is going to fine you x millons of dollars and suddenly it is important till no one is looking again.

not one person can follow production of something from beginning to end. Gaps, or misses will occur because there isn't one person tracking everything or that understands everything from beginning to end.
each group is responsible for their slice of the pie, but don't understand the pie as a whole so you get flaws that build up and eventually crash something out.
the few people they do have trying to follow the line still have a narrow focus and limited knowledge of how things work, relying on the person in charge of that part of the line to tell them it is ok.
The higher up the food chain you go, the less likely they will understand the day to day because managers are now career managers, not people that worked their way up doing everything like the old days.
The military still takes the approach with officers that they need to do every job before they move up.
they limit it of course, none of them are actually able to do the job independently, but at least they put hands on to do the work at some point so they have a clue what they are ordering to get done.

no one wants to change how they do it.
as processes evolve, some jobs don't get removed, so people are doing things that don't need to be done anymore, but not knowing how the whole system works, prevents people from pruning dead branches.
you get vestigial tails so to speak, that don't do anything, but impede the system and adding bloat. sometimes these things do damage however causing other problems in the system.

This is not only smart engineering, but a huge cost savings too. Crank out hundreds of thousands of the same part number after a robust process is established and you're making money and a quality product. Don't change just for the sake of change. This also helps lower the dealers' cost since they don't have to stock 20 different oil filters. Kind of like Chrysler in the early 70's when the same starter fit almost every engine and model. This is the anthesis of Ford who may have three running changes of the same part in the same model year and none are interchangeable.

So 9 yrs and 65k it needed...both lower ball joints, a radiator, a rack and pinion, front and rear ring/pinion sets, both front hub bearings, both post cat o2 sensors, tires(Goodyear junk from new), brakes(at least twice),2 batteries, When traded the ring and pinion sets were starting to sing again, EVAP code was set because the fuel sending unit was starting to rot and leak, typical rot had started over the wheel wells.

You guys can pick on Ford all ya want...the FX4 I have now has been WAY better than that Ram.

390,000 miles on my 2007 Ram 1500.
Didn't need to replace the brakes until 119,000 on the rear, then 121,000 on the front. Yes...the rear actually wore first.
I just replaced the ball joints and bushings 5 days ago.
Original engine, transmission and axle.
I am on the second radiator, starter, water pump and EGR valve.
At 179,000 miles, I did have to replace the front wheel bearings.
Maybe you live in a crappy environment or don't know how to treat a vehicle?
Maybe I got the unicorn and you got the lemon?

Daily driven trucks don't last long enough in Pa to go that far. They rust into the ground well before that. Even my 05 1500 that never saw snow got the rust above the wheel wells. My wife's jeep grand charokee is a 2015, 65k, and I sweep it into the dust bin almost once a week.

Maybe the EPA should get on them about how poor rust prevention is.

390,000 miles on my 2007 Ram 1500.
Didn't need to replace the brakes until 119,000 on the rear, then 121,000 on the front. Yes...the rear actually wore first.
I just replaced the ball joints and bushings 5 days ago.
Original engine, transmission and axle.
I am on the second radiator, starter, water pump and EGR valve.
At 179,000 miles, I did have to replace the front wheel bearings.
Maybe you live in a crappy environment or don't know how to treat a vehicle?
Maybe I got the unicorn and you got the lemon?

My 2014 Ram 1500 has been a much better vehicle vs my 2006 Ram 2500. Replaced lots of parts on the 06 with around 100,000 miles.