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The engineers may not have realized they were relying on one sensor, or they might be the $9/hour variety with no avionics experience who don't know any better.

The main problem was higher up. The overall design was bad, and Boeing didn't seem to have a handle on it.

I suspect they were told that runaway trim wouldn’t be a serious problem, and they believed it since they wouldn’t have the expertise to analyze the whole thing from first principles.

Or they have a "obey all orders even when it is blatantly criminal" clause.

Or may be they pointed it out but got reply "just work as said, you're just $9 engineer"? Or they were never told about the exact purpose?

You get $9 for hypothetical blood splattered on your hand or you get worse than nothing for nothing