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

[Ricketts]

Ford isn’t only company doing this. I have a C8 on order currently and Chevrolet is building C8’s without rear park assist parts to be installed later due to chip shortages.

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[YOBY]

Ford isn’t only company doing this. I have a C8 on order currently and Chevrolet is building C8’s without rear park assist parts to be installed later due to chip shortages.

Can you imagine if they started selling Big Screen TV's without all their chips? Actually, has anyone seen a shortage of TV's because of chip shortages that are mostly manufactured in China?

 

[psklenar]

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.

OMG! Please!! NO!!!!

Back in mid 1980s, the Atari, Amiga, and other home computers made extensive use of sockets (not just for CPUs, but for memory chips and many other ones as well) due to "early" IC failure rates. heck, the tech support manuals (intended for actual repair shops back then) for the Atari line of home computers actually had trouble shooting instructions to lift the computer x inches above the work surface (I can't recall the exact height) and drop it. This would reseat chips that had slightly worked loose in their sockets! Note that these early home PC's didn't have fans or drives built into the main case and chips would still work loose tot he point to interrupt the circuit!

The number one enemy of a socketed chip is vibration (hello? We're talking about installing in a motor vehicle). Unless you use the special hold down sockets of the Intel/AMD style CPUs ... but those sockets cost more to manufacture, THEY still have to be soldered to the board anyhow and the chips are fragile and easily get inserted in such a manner to bend or break pins on the CPUs.

There's no savings in soldering in a socket vs soldering in the chip and it just opens the whole thing up to other problems No, the vendor needs to sit on the modules until the chips are available, add them to the boards, package the module and ship them to Ford (or drop ship them to the dealer Service Centers) for installation..

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. ...

CPU sockets are intended just to allow the builder/end-user to use the compatible CPU of their choice on the motherboard. Not because CPU's can't easily be solder mounted. GPUs and many other chips are just as complex and large as modern Intel and AMD CPUs. Heck, take a look at mainframe CPU, they are never socketed.

pat----

 

[psklenar]

That's one way to get views which makes him more money on YouTube.... coincidence

OMG! Tim's cornered the market on automotive chips!?!?




pat----

 

[pigsareus]

Very funny, I had a 72 Vega GT (MOTOR TRENDS CAR OF THE YEAR) designed by John Delorian for GM. The guys working on the line didn't make it worthless. It was the GM Engineers and Bean Counters that ruined the project.

They had to get to market in a hurry to beat Lee Iacocca and the Pinto piece of crap.

Sounds familiar, cut three years off the development time of the Maverick to beat the Santa Cruz to market.

So, it's still a Fine American Automobile, designed by those fine American Engineers, but instead of being constructed by highly paid union workers in America, they moved most of their vehicle manufacturing to Mexico to maximize their profits. The American Way

I had a 72 and 74 Vega, bought each of them when the were 3 years old, each was...$400! 100 miles to the quart of oil, rusty...but each lasted 3 years each so it was cheap transportation.You're right about the engineers mixing dissimilar engine metals...the rust problem mostly due to some genius not porting drain holes in the fenders, truly mindless.

 

[Ricketts]

Can you imagine if they started selling Big Screen TV's without all their chips? Actually, has anyone seen a shortage of TV's because of chip shortages that are mostly manufactured in China?

Haven't been TV shopping lately, but I know the car audio world was having a head unit shortage issue.

 

[YOBY]

I would probably have no problem with that, depending on what is missing. If it is the heated seats, no problem. Just get me my Maverick hybrid and I'll bring it back in when the missing chip(s) arrive to have them installed.

Ford has been burning my butt for 9 months now, I won't require heated seats for years.

 

[pigsareus]

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.

well as long as you ask the guy who wanted a cheeseburger if he'd be ok with just a hamburger instead and letting him know that if he says 'no' that he has to go get back in line and wait an unknown time to know that his order is up before putting the hamburger on the counter offiering it to anyone who just happens to be swinging on by, that would be ok.

 

[Vols44]

That's one way to get views which makes him more money on YouTube.... coincidence

Another @fordvideoguy detractor, sigh. I don't think Tim produces YT videos for the money. After the time and money put into the research, preparation, recording and editing the profit margin is way slimmer than the money he makes for Long McArthur selling vehicles.

 

[Twixel Jackson]

Ford isn’t only company doing this. I have a C8 on order currently and Chevrolet is building C8’s without rear park assist parts to be installed later due to chip shortages.

I sure hope Chevrolet pulled all the chips out of those damaged Corvettes at the Bowling Green Plant following the tornado before they destroyed them.

 

[YOBY]

I had a 72 and 74 Vega, bought each of them when the were 3 years old, each was...$400! 100 miles to the quart of oil, rusty...but each lasted 3 years each so it was cheap transportation.You're right about the engineers mixing dissimilar engine metals...the rust problem mostly due to some genius not porting drain holes in the fenders, truly mindless.

The problem with the fenders was they never installed any wheel splash guards over the tires. Everything from rain, snow, salt, mud, and rocks peppered the inside bare metal of the quarter panel. Rust from day one.

As for oil use, the engineers sprayed some new fancy coating on the cylinder walls that flecked off or scored from piston rings after 20k miles. I used diesel crank case oil to get me to 100 miles per quart.

Crazy times in the 70's.

 

[FATONY1121]

Ford will sell partially built vehicles awaiting chips or related components that control non-safety critical features, it told dealers today.

Dealers will get the missing chips within 1 year to install on the already-sold vehicles, Ford said.

news story:


DETROIT – Amid an ongoing chip shortage, Ford is reportedly planning to ship and sell vehicles without certain non-critical chips as the automaker deals with a pile of unfinished vehicles.

Automotive News reports that Ford told dealerships on Saturday that they plan to sell vehicles without chips for some non-safety features, with plans to install them in the already-sold cars within a year.

Ford, like other automakers, has been dealing with a shortage of semiconductor microchips, and have a growing inventory of vehicles waiting for chips.

Ford isn’t the first to eliminate some chip-powered features. GM temporarily dropped heated seats in some models earlier this year.

The article is locked behind a Paywall. So please forgive me if the info is in there. But, does it actually reference Mavericks? The only specific model I have seen mentioned in an article about leaving out chips was the Exploder.

 

[Stealth Raccoon]

Glad I tried to select options that had no extra tech!

 

[Ricketts]

I sure hope Chevrolet pulled all the chips out of those damaged Corvettes at the Bowling Green Plant following the tornado before they destroyed them.

Agreed!

 

[Turtle]

Very funny, I had a 72 Vega GT (MOTOR TRENDS CAR OF THE YEAR) designed by John Delorian for GM. The guys working on the line didn't make it worthless. It was the GM Engineers and Bean Counters that ruined the project.

They had to get to market in a hurry to beat Lee Iacocca and the Pinto piece of crap.

Sounds familiar, cut three years off the development time of the Maverick to beat the Santa Cruz to market.

So, it's still a Fine American Automobile, designed by those fine American Engineers, but instead of being constructed by highly paid union workers in America, they moved most of their vehicle manufacturing to Mexico to maximize their profits. The American Way

I am all for build in America, however the Hermosillo folks are not rookies and i believe the quality of work is as good as any other plant.

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