Ford will ship Broncos without chips controlling non-safety critical features

[wilbersk]

Interesting article thanks. . Couldn’t see it all but the one year doesn’t matter that much to me. It means you go without a seat heater or auto stop for a while. But you have your vehicle. The one year is probably a worse case. Would love it if they would do this for ice mountain/ chip hold. Like now.

Idk about that at all. 70% of the neon needed for making chips comes from Ukraine, and it’s a byproduct of Russian steel manufacturing. It’s already caused them to cut 50% of the world’s neon output. Russia also provides 1/3 of the worlds palladium, which is needed for making chips as well. A bunch of articles out there saying it’s going to get really rough.

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[Roger123]

This post is a good lead-in for...

Electronics 101 Primer
It is not the chips that are actually missing in any shipped/delayed vehicles. Chips are simply one element, or one component, inside of an electronic assembly, sometimes called a module, device or unit. These units are held up at the supplier awaiting the actual chips to arrive so the units can be completed and tested. Only then are the units shipped to Ford.

Dealer's will not be receiving "Chips", dealers will be receiving "Complete Modules" which contain the missing chips, for example, here is a Heated Seat Control Module for the Mustang.

An example of the actual Chips, they are the small black devices, on the green circuit board, in the open module below (three examples circled in red):

Here is an example of an acutal F-150 module being replaced. Ford ICE Mountain workers or Dealers are doing nothing more than plugging in full assemblies, similar to this.

Good post, I really feel some people believe dealer mechanics will be soldering in transistors on a circuit card!!

I'm pretty sure not a single "chip" is installed in any car at any factory, it's all about the modules.

This whole thing is a debacle. I just bought an Auto-Stop eliminator for $100 that has a chip in it so I can counteract the $50 chip that Ford (really the government) saw a need to include that NO ONE wants!! What a mess.

 

[adrencg]

So can we assume that allocation will be increased to accommodate the new in-flow of vehicles going to dealerships? What good will this be if dealership x is only allocated 4 broncos per month?

 

[Roger123]

Would we have to take our vehicle back to the same dealership for this completion? I would love my 7spd Badlands with Mid package this summer, and I’d drive it without heated seats. But I wouldn’t want to drive to Iowa for the follow-up work.

No, it would work like any other warranty or recall issue, well at least in a perfect world it would..

 

[Roger123]

helps with back pain. I was using heated seats in Corvette in August.

You can barely use the Broncos heated seats in Jan, they fry your A**!!

 

[pimpjuice]

100% agree BUT bronco6g likes to complain and go against the grain at every opportunity. If Ford holds vehicles for chips then bronco6g gets angry and if they release them while waiting for chips then bronco6g still gets angry. No matter what Ford can’t win

To be fair, there are a ton of people with different options on this forum. So you one set complaining about not shipping, then see a completely different set of people complaining about shipping.
I'm not saying you're wrong, just trying to give a little more perspective.

 

[Inlinejohn]

I would gladly take possession so I could enjoy for whatever period of time, waiting for a chip vs it sitting unattended outta my control for months+ in some cold/hot, unprotected environment. I wanna start modding!!!!

 

[Tricky Dick]

Auto-Stop....that NO ONE wants!!

Ahem! I actually love the feature and wish it would activate more often. The silence at stoplights and drive thrus is great.

 

[TheDoctor]

Probably will remove 360 cameras, heated seats, and ACC

No way. Freep.com story mentions removal of rear seat hvac controls on Explorers…still controllable by front controls.

 

[MaddSkillzzz]

I think this is great, I would be willing to take it even if it couldn't be driven. Just to have it in the garage and getting it set up for me with the various things I want would make me happy. I just hope they update our status as to build and shipped so I can have something exciting to see other than "in production"

 

[WyoBronc]

Your points are valid for some, not so much for others. If you are paying cash or can afford to own or finance multiple vehicles, that is one thing. For some, it will be their only vehicle, financed, and required to be a daily driver. For them, they cannot simply afford to finance the Bronco, only to park it. Further, this would not allow them to trade-in their existing daily driver since they still need it for daily living.

The point is, everyone's situation is different, what is right for you may not be right for them.

If someone chooses to let their vehicle sit in the garage because his heated steering wheel (because these are the types of chips we’re talking about) doesn’t work as opposed to putting on a pair of gloves, then they have issues much bigger than a chip module.

 

[Ramble_Offroad]

to be fair, it is not all Ford’s blame - every manufacturer is dealing with the same shortages (parts, labor, transport, etc).

there is no conspiracy or hiding of the issues, Mercedes’ is not selling V8s this year (even if you ordered one) GM is not taking orders on some cars, and Ford is also not taking orders in Mavericks. Their business is to sell cars so they must be trying everything within the law allowed. I am not sure how that is lack of dedication. I am sure that checking with NHTSA, lawyers, dealers, etc takes a couple of months at least.

it cannot be perfect, but at least is an attempt. Some will consider seat warmers essential, and some need the vanity lights. A lot will disagree with whatever Ford decides they can do.

If you don’t like the arrangement, you can always wait longer or find alternatives,.

My comments are not about if waiting or accelerating delivery within this debacle is good or bad. Of course we all want to receive our order ASAP. I’d like nothing more than to see Ford step up, communicate & remedy all ice mountain builds as priority, expect for the original dream of building & delivering vehicles based on timestamp, not dealer allocation. My comments are centered around a product being shipped when incomplete, at full price, supported by a vague promise of completing after receipt. IMPO this feels like Ford is not leveraging its full weight to remedy.

I fully understand supply chain & manufacturing impacts. The last two years have been the hardest years of my career.

 

[Karl_in_Chicago]

"Within one year" . . . sure, but *which* year will that be?

 

[mpeugeot]

But they couldn't manage to ship a dirt mountain bronco with a substandard top.

 

[Deleted member 21681]

Yeeeeah, I’m paying for a fully loaded bronco, I’ll wait until they can deliver a fully loaded bronco. Unless they’re knocking something off the price… not going to just casually throw away the time value of that money for undisclosed somethings they’re not giving me until some undisclosed later date.
To anyone who just wants their truck or who just wanted something without “bells and whistles” anyway, more power to ya. I hope this helps you get behind the wheel all the sooner.
But for me, bad deal, not interested. I’ll keep waiting.

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