What Makes A Dishwasher Work

We were informed that for around 2 years or so our particular model of dishwasher had been considered a fire hazard and a component in it had been recalled. Ours hadn't. It had got a bit tempramental of late, but we found a smart kick usually got it working again. The repair man looked at us aghast. And fortunately, because of the manufacturer error, fixed it for us for free :D