Engineers vs. Designers

Now when it comes to designing cars, it seems both engineers and designers have a say. And I now see why this movement of "Archtiectural Engineers" and "Design Engineers" is becoming popular. #1, its more efficient. If you want to build a building and have the plans made at the "Architectural Engineering" firm, you can side step having to collaborate with the Mechanical, PLumbing, and electrical engineers. Well maybe not all together, but you will cut much of the time out. Another good thing about it is that engineers usually plan things from A to B in the most efficient manner. Designers plan to make it look the best. But neither really are masters of both. My grandfather told me about an older mechanical engineer that was responsible for designing the conduit pipes that went from a nuclear reactor, to the control room. He said the way this guy planned the pipes, it looked like artwork, but it was also very efficient because repair points and access points were easy to get to. You see the "green" engineer would just do point A to point B, without really knowing how someone would go about fixing something if it ever broke down. Its experience and efficiency, form follows function, as they say. This brings me to today. I believe ENGINEERS designed all the electrical business for my civic. The main relay I had to replace was in a pocket of openess under my dash close to the hood pull. They gave me 1.5" to access the bolt that holds it in. They gave me exactly enough space to have to wrangle the relay through an area between the dash frame and some dash plastic. All of this while I am on my back facing up with the door sill eating away at my vertebrae. And with all this thought as to where they put the relay, guess what? These things still get rattled enough that over time the solder on the circuit boards cracks and causes continuity problems. I, as a designer/failed engineer, cannot wait to design my own car that runs on WVO, gets 30+ miles per gallon, and every electronic piece WILL BE ACCESSIBLE! End of rant.

Two pictures, the blurry brown bit is the frame.