I believe that a part of the problem with software engineering is the "we can always fix this later" mindset.
Even during development, the only cost of iterating over errors until you get it right is just time.
But HW engineers just don't have the luxury of making 100 iterations of a product until it works, nor the safety net of "we'll update it over the internet". They must put a lot of effort into testing and verification until they say "ok, this is good, let's ship it."
Also, failure modes of mechanical products are often known and intuitive.
I am guessing that before the advent of Internet, the average quality of shipped software was higher on average. Nobody would dare ship a hot mess like Battlefield 2042 if they knew it's the last version they ship.
Even during development, the only cost of iterating over errors until you get it right is just time.
But HW engineers just don't have the luxury of making 100 iterations of a product until it works, nor the safety net of "we'll update it over the internet". They must put a lot of effort into testing and verification until they say "ok, this is good, let's ship it."
Also, failure modes of mechanical products are often known and intuitive.
I am guessing that before the advent of Internet, the average quality of shipped software was higher on average. Nobody would dare ship a hot mess like Battlefield 2042 if they knew it's the last version they ship.