Not really. Bean counters have alway found corners to cut somewhere. They’re just cutting different corners based on a shifting product design. Executives have pushed an all encompassing strategy for streamlining controls and detrimentally modifying, eliminating, or replacing even the objectively best possible mechanical component designs, to further a goal of incorporating as many systems as possible into a universal electronic operating system that that simplifies production, secondary parts support obligations, reduces overhead costs, and strong arms owners into choosing licensed dealer repair shops guaranteeing a greater percentage of post-purchase revenue potential by denying/complicating access to independent mechanics, and sabotaging the r&d efforts of aftermarket parts suppliers.

Basically the same as how a cellphone screen repair shop can’t fix your newer iPhone because your screen module has a unique identifier coded to pair and communicate with the other uniquely coded components in your phone. Without the approval and cooperation of apple you can’t make the two pieces work together.

Maybe someone really clever will figure out a way around the issue for your car, but then an “over the air update” or dealer technician using a factory diagnostic tool will trigger a communication error and brick your car. A purely mechanical component can’t snitch if you modify it, or have it repaired by someone other than dealer technician. That’s why swapping mechanical designs for an inferior alternative electronic device, or electromechanical, or electronically monitored/controlled component is such a widespread practice, why it’s so important for the industry to try and convince consumers it’s a legitimate improvement, and why they are so desperate to promote the idea that anyone complaining is just a neo-Luddite or a biased old fool that’s irrationally afraid of change.

So mostly the average north American consumer is ruining the industry by being ignorant or complacent about this situation. Many of those same consumers are part of the same group that steadily shifted market share to the makers of the cheapest cars that offered the most unnecessary pseudo-luxury gadgets, and made it clear that the design of the underlying machine was way down on the list of priorities. Over time manufacturers have found the sweet spot where the car is a crappy as possible without raising too much backlash from the average owner, and parts/labor costs for warranty obligations are reduced enough to compensate for any potential loss while the product remains under warranty.

Too many people have strong opinions, and uncompromising standards… based on useless features, and a complete lack of knowledge or appreciation for the machine they are actually shopping for.

It’s only partially the consumers fault if you zoom out a bit. Geography, state/federal infrastructure, and employer real estate planning and shipping cost analysis that chooses facility locations using the extended commuter distance and proposals for self serving tax funded road projects as a calculated way to bargain with governments when choosing a location.

In doing this corporations and numerous industries in general, along with governments on local/state/federal levels, are shifting a portion of their financial burdens onto employees and taxpayers, a trend that creates and expands geographically isolated suburbs, shuffles employment opportunities away from areas that have reliable transportation infrastructure, and drains the transportation budgets of the areas involved by negotiating a contract with the city/state that requires investments in special road construction projects, improvements to highway access, road widening/resurfacing, and any number of other things.

They have created the perfect circumstances to make 99% of people who do not give a shit about cars, have absolutely no choice but to spend much of their lives in car, and those people with little or no knowledge or interest beyond comfort, fundamentally unrelated gadgets and entertainment features, or superficial nonsense have become the most influential demographic on the automotive marketplace.

It goes back further than that, and obviously the oil & gas industry deserves some credit, but I’ve already said more than most will bother to read. That is an incredibly complicated question if you want an answer more useful than “yes and no”, and I’m not even willing to attempt proofreading and fixing the complete syntax catastrophe up to this point.