Ford will sell & deliver Mavericks without chips controlling non-safety critical features

[A Dodge that drives Fords]

I just received this email today with this news that came out this weekend does anybody think mine will be missing some chips?

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[WaitingHaulDogs]

Sounds great for those who are in desperate need of transportation ASAP...

I'm ready for my Maverick... waiting is getting tiresome.

 

[WaitingHaulDogs]

I don’t like this. If I’m forced into a buy it as is or lose it situation, the warranty should start when the truck is complete as I ordered it!

Agreed

 

[MikeYork5]

The photos accompany the tweet are from NADA. I’m curious why Ford would give this information “to dealers” at such a large event where leaks are everywhere and not every dealer is present.

But I don’t doubt it’s truth. Stupid world we live in right now.

I was there, just part of overall business plan(s) presented. Why? Simple, dealers need any and all available inventory to retail -

 

[Tbolt]

You all can do whatever you want. I’m not taking delivery of an incomplete vehicle.

 

[Rentman1225]

I guess this is an example of how Ford's Build to Order model will work. Customer orders what they want Ford ships whatever they can.

 

[06Warrior]

I just received this email today with this news that came out this weekend does anybody think mine will be missing some chips?

If it’s built then you won’t be missing any chips.

 

[PrincessHennessey]

I saw something like this for Chevy. There was a $50.00 credit on window sticker because no heated seats.

 

[Redneck Garage]

Ive been trying to buy a XL hybrid until my Lariat comes in - if they want to ship my Lariat as an XL temporarily - great.

 

[CACTI_HYBRID]

I guess this is an example of how Ford's Build to Order model will work. Customer orders what they want Ford ships whatever they can.

I'm beginning to think the old way of simply shipping vehicles to dealers and not building to order might work better right now. Obviously, there is a huge demand for Mavericks and so the chances of vehicles sitting on dealer lots unsold isn't likely. Then, Ford could simply build whatever they had parts for and push 'em out as quickly as possible.

Buyers could look at a truck on the lot, see if it had what they wanted, if perhaps they could live with something that wasn't there, wasn't their first color choice, or perhaps had extras they didn't initially plan on buying but would pay a little more for so as to get the truck now. The Build to Order model works fine if you have the parts to offer custom builds. Rather than ship an ordered truck to a buyer who wanted heated seats and tell them to bring it back later for a chip installation, why not just ship the truck without that to a dealer for sale on the lot. Someone would be happy to take it.

If someone orders a cheeseburger and you run out of cheese, why not cook hamburgers and make them available to people who are happy to take them that way? Just make Mavericks there Ford. As many as you can, as quickly as you can. There's a hungry crowd ready to snap 'em up.

 

[sockeye]

They were 30 years ago until the Government had this great idea to buy commercial off the shelf to get costs down. They soon found out that they could get cheap parts from countries with low labor costs and no unions. Nothing political about this, just buy cheap products to keep Americans happy. Where is your truck being manufactured?

Right, like the good old days back in the 70’s, when the American automobile was manufactured right here. Now those were some fine machines. Wait……

 

[Shakesbear]

On this day in 1980, FoMoCo was acquitted of reckless-homicide charges that had resulted from 3 deaths in a fiery accident involving a Pinto.

The Maverick has already had a fuel tank recall and now a potential ‘ship without something and we’ll figure it out later’ option.

Lovely.

Watched a Pinto try to jump to the other side of the tracks in Houston when I was in high school. My buddy and I were right behind him. We both said no way he has enough room. Train was was in full lockup with sparks flying. Before impact we were both out of the car yelling for him to get out and run. BANG! Train hit the back end of the Pinto, but did not explode. When the train finally stopped, we climbed over the coupler and ran to the Pinto. No gas smelled, and the guy was alive. Blood all over the driver window, and bits of teeth all over. Got the guy out just before EMS arrived. To this day I can’t believe that Pinto didn’t blow. Guess it just wasn’t his day to go

 

[CACTI_HYBRID]

Right, like the good old days back in the 70’s, when the American automobile was manufactured right here. Now those were some fine machines. Wait……

Indeed! I had personal experience with one of those "fine American automobiles." A 1972. Two words sum it all up - Chevy Vega.

 

[06Warrior]

Watched a Pinto try to jump to the other side of the tracks in Houston when I was in high school. My buddy and I were right behind him. We both said no way he has enough room. Train was was in full lockup with sparks flying. Before impact we were both out of the car yelling for him to get out and run. BANG! Train hit the back end of the Pinto, but did not explode. When the train finally stopped, we climbed over the coupler and ran to the Pinto. No gas smelled, and the guy was alive. Blood all over the driver window, and bits of teeth all over. Got the guy out just before EMS arrived. To this day I can’t believe that Pinto didn’t blow. Guess it just wasn’t his day to go

Today I was riding my bike and I got behind a white Mercury Bobcat the Pinto’s cousin. Hadn’t seen one in years.

 

[davnau]

You all can do whatever you want. I’m not taking delivery of an incomplete vehicle.

I'm with you.

However, in thinking about this some more, there is a way that Ford may be thinking of, that could work for at least for some customers. It revolves around dealer installed integrated circuits. For those who don't want to read what follows, the key word is: sockets.

Usually today's (and last 30+ years) circuit boards use surface mounted components assembled and soldered mostly by robots. However, integrated circuits can also be mounted with a socket soldered to the circuit board, with the integrated circuit, the "chip", then inserted into the socket after the basic board is built.

Now it costs a little more to use a socket, which are normally used with big integrated circuits with very large pin counts, like big Intel microprocessors, that just can't easily be soldered to the board via surface mounting. Some integrated circuits come with an option for socket or surface mount packaging (or even the old through-hole packaging). Now, if the key missing chips were to be mounted via a socket, it would be easy to build the circuit board with just the socket, which would be surface mounted, and then assembled as a module that can be easily opened up for rework. The module with the socket(s) would be built at the supplier factory and shipped without the constrained chips to the Ford assembly plant, with the vehicle then built and shipped to the dealer. Then, when available, missing chips could then be shipped to the dealer, and any dealer tech could then insert the right chips into the right sockets, thus completing assembly in the field. No special skills are required. I spent 40 years in IT, and while I'm all thumbs, even I have pushed many an integrated circuit into a socket. It's not hard. Ford ships the truck, and holds title until the vehicle is complete. Maybe the buyer pays a lease equal to their payment until assembly is completed. That detail could be worked out, or maybe it can't really be sold until the chips arrive for field installation. Dealer gets vehicle to show and "sell" and the customer gets a truck, or at least gets their vehicle held with a deposit in the lot until chips arrive. They can see it on the lot with a big "SOLD" sign in the windshield, have paperwork, and know it's being held for them,. A lot of the vehicles might possibly even be completed before the customer takes delivery or if they sit with a deposit, it allows stuff to be done in parallel. Keeps things moving and provides better service to both the dealer and the end-user customer.

Something like this could work, if acceptable to the end-user customer. Maybe Ford is saying by year-end to allow time for the circuit boards involved for the vehicles involved to be redesigned as needed to include sockets. All speculation, but I think more details will come out in the coming months. I've only seen three Mavericks on the road and have never even sat in one, let alone remove modules and see what they look at inside. so some of this is guessing. However, this at least shows Ford is trying to come up with workarounds for this logistical and production mess.

For our Mavericks today, I think we are just going to have to wait for MY2022 to finish and thus just be patient. We'll see what happens. I'm still hoping I get my truck yet this year.

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