the predicted break down

How many times have you heard about the guy whose engine stall or his AC goes out about a week after his 3 year 36,000 mile warranty ends. It's funny how that works but there is a real truth to it as many poor schleps can attest to.
I can't imagine some dude working on the assembly line at Ford is personally manipulating the engine so it's shelf life is particularly shot as I think it had more to do with an inherent manufacturing problem with the car companies not putting enough energy into high-quality products instead allowing their loyal customers suffer.
Well the auto companies have obviously had a rough go at it lately but there are many reports that they are finally producing a high end project (fingers crossed for my Ford Escape) but the phenomenon of items breaking at an expected rate is not limited to the cars.

My wife and I got two crest automatic toothbrushes about a year ago.
Wouldn't you know it that after about 15 months bother toothbrushes broke within a week of each other. It was as if we participated in one of those science fair experiments where some teenager tries to figure out which light-bulb burned out quicker.

There has to be something to this predicted breakdown thing. There is no way to explain how two toothbrushes fail at almost exactly the same time.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry