We have an old Prius we rarely used that has needed a new battery for...I'm too embarrassed to say. It's more of a project than it sounds like for several reasons.
First, without a working battery, the rear hatch does not open normally. The only way to open it is to crawl through the interior into the back, then find a small opening with a manual release, then figure out how to get it to actually release. And if you don't apply upward force on the door while you do that, it will immediately latch itself closed again. Adding to the fun, the release is below the rear deck, so you have to lift it out of the way, when you would prefer to be sitting on it. It is awkward.
Second, getting to the battery requires you to remove a lot more than anyone would reasonably expect. To take out the small section of floor above it, you first half to remove the main floor and the storage tray underneath it. Then you finally have access to the battery. You have to unscrew the contacts and the bracket the holds it in place down inside a narrow well that's just big enough or the battery. It does not easily fit ratchets or even screwdrivers at the angles where you need them. It is also awkward.
Third, it's a simple thing, but lifting a car battery out of a narrow hole when you have nothing to hold onto is surprisingly difficult. The battery that was in there no longer had any kind of a lifting strap, so I had to lift it out by pressing my fingertips around the sides of it. It was awkward and also somewhat painful.
Fourth, lifting in the new battery was easy, but putting everything back together was every bit as much fun as it was t take it apart. See "Second" above.
It would have all been a lot easier if I weren't 65 and seriously overweight. I'm still fairly strong, but I am not nearly as flexible as I used to be and I don't fit into small spaces well.
I wasn't at all sure the car would start, even with a new battery, but it did start right up. Now I just have to do some basic cleaning and I can take it to CarMax to see what they'll give me for it.
I'm claiming victory, if only a small one.
If I were a billionaire I would gather engineers to construct a car. But I won't call marketers or designers. Just engineers. Just "make a car that is nice to use and maintain". I might become a trillionaire if I were a billionaire and made such a car.
If you did this you'd become a millionaire not a trillionaire because nobody would ever buy a new one.
Gotta build some planned obsolescence in there if you want a trilly
I mean designers would also be important in that equation, the problem is just that design has been cannibalized by marketing and branding
But like, where an engineer solves physics problems (and software developers solve logic problems), designers solve human problems. So ergonomics, intuitive controls, a design that has useful features for basic tasks and makes sense for daily life, that communicates saftey information in an effective and clear way, and accessibility, are all things a designer would be more suited to than an engineer
Unfortunately companies are increasingly corrupting the role of designers from "being the advocate of the end user" to being another bs marketing person who does whatever will look shiny and sell more units, while ignoring stuff that actually matters.
But design is also deeply important to building a thing that is well considered and doesnt suck
Engineers are excellent at this. And yes, modern designers are anti-customer. So the end-result ergonomic-wise would be better if done by engineer who by default pro-customer than if done by designer who might be better in theory but in practice just deliberately makes things worse.
As a business analyst that worked between the engineers and the end customer, I can attest that in my situation, the engineers had zero idea what the customer wanted. In fact, when I presented the engineers with the customer's requirements (no designer involved), they told me I was wrong, contacted the customer personally, and only then came back and said, "Ok, we'll do it that way."
Iam also a BA between engineers, leadership, ops, and client success. The engineers have zero clue why they're even doing the things they are doing.
You'd end up with something like early VWs or military style Jeeps.
You know what, count me in.
It isn't that easy - cars have a lot of compromises so often you can't get what you want. Though the worst problems shouldn's be.