I would say it stinks but there might just possibly be an economic benefit to the consumer that I’m missing.
I own a 2000 Dodge Stratus that’s a nice car and has given good service. However, a week ago last Saturday it wouldn’t start. So Monday I had it towed to the repair shop, not the dealer, where it was discovered that the fuel pump had failed. I’ve done business with this particular repair shop before and they are not cheap but they don’t cheat.
It turns out the fuel pump is a module that includes electronics and stuff and the module costs almost $300. The total bill, towing, parts, diagnosis and labor was over $600. To replace a ******* fuel pump.
Does everything have to be in a complicated module in which a lot of perfectly good parts are abandoned because one part of the module failed?
I remember one time I had a vacuum motor fail in the air intake of a Ford carburetor air intake. Could I buy a vacuum motor? Hell no, it was only sold as part of a module that consisted of a whole new carburetor air cleaner.