yeah, that would never have flown in australia. pretty sure even today most dudes demand manual stick shift in australia, they certainly did 15 years ago. but it was starting to tilt very much in the wrong direction by 2000.

the less we interface with the machine directly, the more stupid and inefficient the machines get. and the engineers are getting more and more mushy between the ears as well, adding feature after complex feature, and then everyone wonders why these things have such high maintenance cost and short lifespans.

a less mechanical example i saw playing out circa 2007 with the european ROHS directive. they removed lead from solder, and instantly, motherboards were dying at 2-5 years, if you were lucky the day after the warranty expired, it would be ded. i worked in a computer store at the time and the number of dead on arrival pcs, and personally, my own hardware also was doing the same thing. runs ok for a while but then the inevitable dry joints because lead is just so much better than only tin and silver, for electrical conductivity.