Again..... the ct parts system is desinged to be simple even for untrained CT staff (as you put it). They have to put in an answer so it may as well be the right one. It is very annoying when you ask the question (knowing it probably wont make a difference) and have the customer jump on the chance to talk down to you. Lordco and T&T auto parts also ask the same questions regardless, it is simply the way the system works. Furthermore, and again.... there are some cases where they change oil pans partway through a year and went form standard to metric. Now in a few cases i have found that the 2wd and the 4wd were different (i am not a moron and i relize this does not make different physical requirment for the oil filter). As a matter of fact i went through this recently while trying to find some parts for a ford for a customer. We ended up having to call ford for an odd ball wierd emission control box and i asked the guy at ford why the 2 and 4 wd were different and he said that they changed pans parts way through the year on the 2 and not the 4 for some reason. He guessed that after they changed the pan the remaining batch allotment of the original pan went to the 4wd and the new went to the 2. So in this case there were 2 filter options for the 2wd and only 1 for the 4. Feel free to call me a liar becasue some one probably will anyway im simply saying how it is.
Another good example of this is headlights, again we norrow the search peramiters is the system and we ask the motor size before we get to the final screen to choose the headlight. Of course every couple customers jump down are throats and lecture us on how it doesnt matter instead of simply answering the question. And again we have to put in an answer so it might as well be the right one. And also again... in a few cases the motor size does make a difference, not becasue the motor changes the light system but because often the bigger motors come with the sport package or deluxze package of a car and will come with HID bulbs or something to that extent.