I friend of mine finally had enough and after running a service garage for 40 years got sick of merely being a troubleshooting tech to trace bad control modules for power locks, windows and headlights and sold the business. New technology was forcing him to no longer be a mechanic, but a module swapper, and he refused to deal with it anymore.
I ran into the same crap with my 2004 Ram 2500... a headlight out was not a bulb, fuse, or relay... it was a corroded flimsy pin on the Front Control Module... which the kid at the dealer kept calling a “TIPM” (sounds like “tip ‘em”). TIPM stands for “Totally Integrated Power Module”. and the trucks didn’t have that card in 2004... but he liked to say Tip Em over and over again. What Valley Girl came up with THAT name? What retard EIT designed a card to replace standard fuses and relays? All I know is that none of the dealerships would use a pin puller and FIX iT. They wanted me to pay 700 bucks for a new card and they would just swap it out.
My ‘91 Jetta diesel has no heated seats or heated mirrors, no lighted vanity mirror, no cupholders... but it has crank down windows, an ash tray and LIGHTER, 315k on the odometer and it still gets 38 MPH. Oh, and NO COMPUTER and 100% of the car can be worked on by ME... 95% of which only requires a 3/8” drive ratchet, phillips head screwdriver, and 11mm and 13 mm sockets and combination wrenches.
An electronics savy guy posted his repair of a TIPM on the internet. The problem isn’t corrosion. Chrysler speced lower rated relays than needed. He replaced the relays with ones with higher amp ratings and hasn’t had a problem since. Chrysler has a monetary extraction devices attached to the bank account of every one of their new car customers.
It’s going to be get much worse when the new electro-hydraulic brakes come out. Figure $600 for replacing the pads. There’s a procedure the mechanic has to follow first or risk serious injury.