Chip shortages

[Jim Glass]

While I've seen no discussion regarding the Mach E, Ford is obvious;y not immune to the shortage. The article just posted by C&D tells some of the story about some of the effects. https://www.caranddriver.com/news/g38179550/new-cars-tech-features-missing-chip-shortage/?source=nl

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[veronicablack]

My car has been on chip hold since early October. So yea, you could say that the MME is not immune to the shortage.

I assume that because these are customer ordered cars they won't ship with missing tech. If Ford tried to do that (beyond maybe something similar to Tesla with a relatively easy to install later missing USB port), I think there would be *MAJOR* backlash. Especially on a new car model like the MME.

 

[RickMachE]

No, has nothing to do with customer ordered cars or not. Ford briefly considered shipping to dealers without chips, and then decided against that, because the dealer network didn't want the financial hit of vehicles that couldn't be sold. Never would they go to customers incomplete.

The chips are by in large simple ones, i.e. seatbelt, etc.

 

[Jim Glass]

My car has been on chip hold since early October. So yea, you could say that the MME is not immune to the shortage.

I assume that because these are customer ordered cars they won't ship with missing tech. If Ford tried to do that (beyond maybe something similar to Tesla with a relatively easy to install later missing USB port), I think there would be *MAJOR* backlash. Especially on a new car model like the MME.

It seems from a number of articles I've read that one "fungible" option is heated seats. But that is a more critical option for the Mach E since it warms but conserves energy.

 

[veronicablack]

It seems from a number of articles I've read that one "fungible" option is heated seats. But that is a more critical option for the Mach E since it warms but conserves energy.

Yea I would be pissed if my car shipped without promised heated seats. Especially since I'll likely be taking delivery in the winter with already reduced range. And range is a major factor in why I'm buying this car with the ER battery vs the SR battery. I would expect to be majorly compensated for something like that. Especially since I'm already on a "chip hold" for so long and forced to keep driving my old, starting to malfunction more and more ICE car for longer than expected.

 

[Accord07]

MME was not hit by chip holds until June. As of today Ford still hasn't delivered some vehicles that went off the assembly line in July, as they are still rolling into Kansas City. Chip hold is only responsible for part of the delay though, poor management of logistics is responsible for the rest - there are cars that were delayed by 8 weeks due to chip hold, then sat for 7 more weeks (after the chip hold was over and the vehicles marked as "shipped") before leaving Mexico.

The day when I placed the order there was snow on the ground; when I take deliver in December there may be snow on the ground again - ten months from order to delivery.

 

[drironman]

MME was not hit by chip holds until June. As of today Ford still hasn't delivered some vehicles that went off the assembly line in July, as they are still rolling into Kansas City. Chip hold is only responsible for part of the delay though, poor management of logistics is responsible for the rest - there are cars that were delayed by 8 weeks due to chip hold, then sat for 7 more weeks (after the chip hold was over and the vehicles marked as "shipped") before leaving Mexico.

The day when I placed the order there was snow on the ground; when I take deliver in December there may be snow on the ground again - ten months from order to delivery.

This is my story exactly. Ordered March 4. Built mid July then on chip hold till October. "shipped" October 5th but did not arrive in Kansas City until November 1st with ETA delivery of November 9. Last checked by VVR it was in North Dakota. I live in Oregon.

 

[JohnnyForensic]

My car has been on chip hold since early October. So yea, you could say that the MME is not immune to the shortage.

I assume that because these are customer ordered cars they won't ship with missing tech. If Ford tried to do that (beyond maybe something similar to Tesla with a relatively easy to install later missing USB port), I think there would be *MAJOR* backlash. Especially on a new car model like the MME.

I got lucky with my chip hold period only being about four weeks, but I’d take that any day over getting a partially-finished car and being surprised when I found missing components. I still can’t believe (well, actually, I can) that Tesla did that and didn’t even notify the end customers. They just figured it out when there was nothing behind the cutout!

 

[veronicablack]

I got lucky with my chip hold period only being about four weeks, but I’d take that any day over getting a partially-finished car and being surprised when I found missing components. I still can’t believe (well, actually, I can) that Tesla did that and didn’t even notify the end customers. They just figured it out when there was nothing behind the cutout!

Yea if something minor like some USB ports were the difference between my car sitting in Mexico or me having it? Let me know and gimme the car. Tesla definitely fucked up by not preemptively letting customers know though. But I think given the option, I'd take the car and worry about USB ports later.

But if it's something like not having GPS or heated seats? Yea I'll probably wait (especially for the former).

 

[blazinazn]

There's a couple things that hit Ford all at once. First is they get a lot of their chips from Renesas in Japan. Well Renesas had a fire at their main factory in Spring of 2021 and it took them about 4-5 months to be back at full capacity. On top of that Malaysia which is another huge fab location hasn't been at full capacity for a while due to COVID. Then there's the supply chain issues and port backlogs preventing made parts from getting to destinations. The second which is applicable to us is that we are all waiting on EVs which require significantly more controllers, processors, sensors, etc than ICE vehicles on the order of 10x more. Now the good news is Renesas and Malaysia are up to full capacity and Ford has increased dealer inventories and lowered cars waiting on chips indicating they're getting more of them. Ford executives as well as Morgan Stanley are of the belief that the worst of the chip shortage is behind us although it won't be perfect until likely 2023.

 

[JohnnyForensic]

Yea if something minor like some USB ports were the difference between my car sitting in Mexico or me having it? Let me know and gimme the car. Tesla definitely fucked up by not preemptively letting customers know though. But I think given the option, I'd take the car and worry about USB ports later.

But if it's something like not having GPS or heated seats? Yea I'll probably wait (especially for the former).

If your GPS experience is going to be anything like mine, I’d suggest using CarPlay or Android Auto when your MME arrives. I’ve had a few (way) too many times where the last mile of routing was completely wrong and put me not at all at my destination. I just got 1.7.1 that has some clear changes to the Navigation and I’m going to try to duplicate those routes again to see if they’ve been fixed, but Ford’s starting from behind with me on this one….

 

[RickMachE]

While Tesla may have sold incomplete vehicles to customers, Ford has not, nor said they would. Fretting about a non-issue is a waste of time.

 

[Fat Mach]

The chip shortage will last well into 2023 if not longer. The convergence of AI, IOT, 5G, and work from home are all contributing to the strongest semiconductor market ever.

 

[Rfehl62]

I wish they would have given us the options to choose to a build that required less chips. For example, you can order an F-150 without the auto start/stop right now. Ford did this simply because it meant less chips. I can guarantee id have my Mach-E right now if it did not have blue cruise but, Ford made me get it if I wanted the moon roof. I could care less about glorified cruise control that does not even work most of the time.

 

[Gixxer750]

I can accept there are chip shortages as this is occurring in every industry at the moment. The uptake of digitalization and electrification is accelerating faster than supply chains can keep up. Especially after the pandemic issues.
What bothers me is how the process is handled by production. Production process should be FIFO but once a car goes into chip hold purgatory, it appears they go to the bottom of the list for chip supply as the cars currently in the production line have priority.
Coming from automotive, I get why they do this as keeping the line busy and moving is key and moving resources to installing modules in a lot creates a lot of waste. However, they need to balance this with customer experience and perception. Especially with a new model as popular as a Mach E.
Okay, rant done.

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