X67 RIP

Had to scrap the car today. Can someone tell me if the fact that a timing belt failure is almost always fatal for an engine is deliberate designed in obsolescence or just a failure in engineering. Why should one bit of rubber cause a whole car to have to be scrapped ? Actually it was the idler - but the same principle.

It had done 162000 miles and some bits will be recycled. Salvaged fuel, towing hitch and battery.