Manufacturers in the "old days" weren't necessarily more virtuous, but they were more constrained; by material and process choices. There weren't the options fo

Manufacturers in the "old days" weren't necessarily more virtuous, but they were more constrained; by material and process choices. There weren't the options for a part that would reliably work... for three years and then fail. You had to choose from a hand-full of materials that either worked or did not, and if they worked, they likely would work for a long time. If they didn't, you couldn't even sell the thing. Today there are myriad types of plastics, metal fab processes, treatments, etc. that can be used to build "things". So there are many variables to trade off, and (some) makers will trade off durability and reliability at the drop of a hat for a 0.1% short-term profit advantage. If they even considered those qualities in the initial design.