>  It gives German engineering a bad name and it
> makes German arrogance about German engineering a bad joke.

You know, German engineering is a funny thing. It tends towards the
ingenious, but it also tends towards a kind of complicated delicacy. In the
case of the fan resistor, I think it was (like Dennis says) a cost issue.
Under conditions it was designed for, i.e. intermittent use cooling the
radiator, it probably would outlast the vehicle. With the AC systems being
very much an afterthought, and designed by people living in a country where
AC was a bit of an unnecessary novelty, it's not surprising that they didn't
go for the added expense of a bigger resistor for AC equipped vehicles.

--
John Bange
'90 Vanagon - "Geldsauger"