What the hell were the designers at Chrysler thinking

No different than the recall on the Mystiques and Contours. Paid out 2.5 hours. To drop the steering wheel, take out the instrument cluster, take off the glove box door, pull the dash down, drill holes in the dash, pull the padding tight, pop rivet the padding into place (hoping it didn't pop high enough to hit the windshield), stretch the padding back into place at the glove box and instrument cluster, pop rivet the padding into place and reinstall.

The guy who did them the most had it down to a science and it still took him five hours each one.

I had to do my share. Wasn't fun. And lost my *** on each one of them.

I always like the Ford F-series window motor replacement. No way of reaching into the door to get to it and with the time it paid, there was no way in hell of pulling the window and getting the regulator/motor out that way. Solution was to drill three 1/2" holes in three little dimples on the door frame and reach in with an 8mm 1/4 inch drive socket. At least they dimpled the frame where the bolts were, but wouldn't it have been easier to go ahead and stamp holes already?

And don't get me going on the damned hatch latch on the Explorers. Thank God for ratcheting wrenches.

During that year for bad transmissions, I did 2, it had a 9 hr book time on it, took me 4 hrs to get it out by myself, not ever doing it before.

The transmission guy, could take one out, reseal it, etc, and put it back in and have it back on the road in 50 minutes.

That dude made serious cash