Recent events really got me thinking about this (rant):
Most of the cars on the road would be reminiscent of the 1940's where cars didn't have seat belts, air conditioning, power windows, anti-lock brakes, air-bags, radial tires, FM radio, CD/MP3 players, DVD players, navigation systems, On-Star, etc. Why? Because the cost into researching new technology and implementing it wasn't cost effective to the business and therefore the technologies we enjoy so much today wouldn't be around. These also would not be found in the standard automobile because the needs of the driver are secondary to the functionality of the car that the engineers, not the driver, come up with - the driver wasn't even consulted, the CEO of the automotive giants response is 'If the driver has to use a map instead of having an electronic device that directs him where to go so be it - they should know how to use a map anyway!'
You would be lucky to survive a trip to the market because you're brakes weren't tested because there wasn't time to do tests; upper management of the company imposed a dead-line without first asking the engineers how long it would take do something. Furthermore middle management had no spine and put their career aspirations ahead of public safety and willingly and purposefully ignored any design problems mentioned by engineers that were detected and directed them to do spot welding on any problems that came up, and the engineers who had no integrity of their own were more than glad to do so because they wanted to stay on their bosses favorable side and be considered a team player. The ones that did speak up and said anything would be moved to the night-shift to clean the floors because they were rocking the boat and suggesting improvements and trying to implement a continual improvement process rather than sticking with the status quo.
If you're door happened to close because it was the right size and shimmed properly or the steering wheel happened to be in front of you on the left side and not on the right, and not missing you'd be very lucky. There's no time for a busy automotive corporation to sit down and design the car first, there's money to be made, design is a luxury - just 'get 'er done!' People are waiting on us deliver a product that they can drive to their jobs with! They can't wait an extra couple of weeks for you to design a system! Who cares if we have to do it two or three or more times to get it right!
It would be anyones guess how long it would take to get an oil change done because each car manufacturer developed their own custom engine with its own custom lubrication system rather than settling on a standard. They also provided no documentation on how the car was designed or put together so trying to trace an electrical problem or anything beyond the most basic repair would be nearly impossible or take days to do.
So the whole purpose of my rant is that in short, there is no excuse for lack of design, quality of code, testing, or documentation. NONE! If the automotive industry, or other industries in general took the approach that most ITS shops, and many software manufacturers do, most of us would still be riding horses. As a friend of mine said, we need to regulate how we work or the government is going to do it for us.
I've had my hand slapped several times and my rear nearly chewed off for having a spine, but I don't care; I'm going to be a man and stand up for what I believe in. I wish more people were like that.