Mac Book Charger - Cord strain relief begs for a fix

Question

After several years of good use, the original AC adapter/charger for my Mac Book developed a tear in the cord that runs from the white 'block' to the Mac. The tear in the outer cover of the cord formed adjacent to the hard plastic 'strain relief' that Apple puts on the cord. With the cord cover compromised, the wires inside quickly broke due to flexing from normal use. We had to buy another power adapter/charger unit for - - yes, $80.
Now, with about a year of use on a second charger, it has developed the exact same problem; outer cord tears at the strain relief point and wires break.
The obvious solution to this, which a worthy ME/EE should be well aware of, is to make simple and easy fixes to the strain relief design. The current use of hard plastic for the strain relief simply moves the stress point from the plastic block intersection out onto the cord a 1/2 inch or so away. The right solution would use any  of the industry standard designs that applies a more flexible plastic strain relief to dissipate flexure over a longer section of the cord. This is miles away from rocket science.
Apple's design of the magnetic coupling connector at the other end of the charger cable is ingenious and worthy of Apple.
I'm hoping they can apply the same skill at fixing things at the other end of this simple but crucial cable.

Answer 1

http://www.apple.com/feedback/macbook.html