People are clamoring for Ford F-150s now trapped in Detroit parking lot

www.freep.com...

If you happen to notice a random parking lot filled with brand new (unsold) Ford F-150 trucks — or any other fleet of brand new vehicles — this is what a semiconductor shortage looks like.

People are sighting new stockpiles off I-96 west of Detroit and calling the Free Press, which took photos and drone shots Thursday to document the issue.

The situation is a multibillion dollar industry headache that won't go away.

"The chip shortage is a supply chain nightmare from hell," said market analyst Jon Gabrielsen, who consults for manufacturing industry clients in North America.

so thousands of otherwise salable trucks sitting useless waiting for chips.

wonder if they even have the tech to make old-school non-electronic vehicles.
maybe they wouldn't be fuel efficient enough.

a reply to: ElGoobero

You have to wonder how they got the trucks there or anywhere else they are holding them.
Obviously they must still run without these chips otherwise they would have to tow them there one by one.
And you notice the story never says what exactly the missing chips function is in the trucks.
If they still run and the chips are not for a critical safety function, just deduct a few thousand dollars off the price and sell them.

a reply to: RazorV66

You are probably right, but they could have a small number of chips that they use to move the trucks then take them out so they use them on the next batch to move.

originally posted by: RazorV66
a reply to: ElGoobero

You have to wonder how they got the trucks there or anywhere else they are holding them.
Obviously they must still run without these chips otherwise they would have to tow them there one by one.
And you notice the story never says what exactly the missing chips function is in the trucks.
If they still run and the chips are not for a critical safety function, just deduct a few thousand dollars off the price and sell them.

They come in on a flatbed and are in Pre-Delivery mode.

So they can easily be moved from the semi to store, but have no working instrument panel, no working climate control or radio, no gears besides first, neutral, park and reverse, no ABS, no working Airbag system, no cruise control, etc.

Hope that helped.



And ETA, the problem is the instrument cluster.

Which acts as the Central Area Network for the other networks on the vehicle.

originally posted by: Lumenari

originally posted by: RazorV66
a reply to: ElGoobero

You have to wonder how they got the trucks there or anywhere else they are holding them.
Obviously they must still run without these chips otherwise they would have to tow them there one by one.
And you notice the story never says what exactly the missing chips function is in the trucks.
If they still run and the chips are not for a critical safety function, just deduct a few thousand dollars off the price and sell them.

They come in on a flatbed and are in Pre-Delivery mode.

So they can easily be moved from the semi to store, but have no working instrument panel, no working climate control or radio, no gears besides first, neutral, park and reverse.

Hope that helped.

Thanks, never knew that.
But I distinctly remember having a few cars in that condition in my younger years, I still drove them.

originally posted by: RazorV66

originally posted by: Lumenari

originally posted by: RazorV66
a reply to: ElGoobero

You have to wonder how they got the trucks there or anywhere else they are holding them.
Obviously they must still run without these chips otherwise they would have to tow them there one by one.
And you notice the story never says what exactly the missing chips function is in the trucks.
If they still run and the chips are not for a critical safety function, just deduct a few thousand dollars off the price and sell them.

They come in on a flatbed and are in Pre-Delivery mode.

So they can easily be moved from the semi to store, but have no working instrument panel, no working climate control or radio, no gears besides first, neutral, park and reverse.

Hope that helped.

Thanks, never knew that.
But I distinctly remember having a few cars in that condition in my younger years, I still drove them.

I edited, sorry.

Most vehicles nowadays come to the dealership in "Pre-Delivery" condition.

Fords I do know about and expanded my original reply to highlight some of the issues.

Before a Pre-Delivery Inspection (PDI) which turns on most of the actual systems, they cannot by law be sold.

They also cannot be charged to the dealership and entered into their inventory before that.

I would pay extra for a ‘chipless’ car. I have no love for the high tech auto industry.

originally posted by: Metallicus
I would pay extra for a ‘chipless’ car. I have no love for the high tech auto industry.

Most auto manufacturers will soon get away from the problems with hard wiring and instead will have every system communicate over a wireless network via independent modules.

BMW is already doing it.

What could possibly go wrong?

a reply to: ElGoobero

My wife was car shopping and heard the same story from a Chevy salesman.
He said they could get vehicles delivered because of a chip shortage.

I don’t think he specifically said which vehicles.

originally posted by: Metallicus
I would pay extra for a ‘chipless’ car. I have no love for the high tech auto industry.

No kidding.

An EMP proof no computer vehicle... carb, mechanical fuel pump, no solid computer hardware other than the radio (that would not impact the truck starting or running).

a reply to: ElGoobero

I'm here in Dearborn. Now a days...it ain't chokes n carbs you can turn...fuel injectors, command centers ..pfft!

originally posted by: Lumenari

So they can easily be moved from the semi to store, but have no working instrument panel, no working climate control or radio, no gears besides first, neutral, park and reverse, no ABS, no working Airbag system, no cruise control, etc.

Hope that helped.

And ETA, the problem is the instrument cluster.

While nobody wants to go back to the bad old days of the 70's and 80's, two things on those vehicles that DIDN'T give us trouble were the analog dash gauges and mechanical heater controls. (Just about everything else was junk but that's another story...)

Anyway, point is hopefully this starts a trend to simplify vehicles, versus having industry continue to chase itself with yet another fad in over-engineering.

originally posted by: infolurker

originally posted by: Metallicus
I would pay extra for a ‘chipless’ car. I have no love for the high tech auto industry.

No kidding.

An EMP proof no computer vehicle... carb, mechanical fuel pump, no solid computer hardware other than the radio (that would not impact the truck starting or running).

My "farm" vehicle (and snow plow) is a 60 year old Dodge diesel.

Everything is mechanical and it can run quite well on used automatic transmission oil or fry grease as fuel.

I only "need" a battery to start it, but in a pinch can just roll it down a hill and pop it into 1st gear to get it going.

It will last forever.

But OMG it's ugly.

I think I will order some electronic parts for my old chevy pickup in case they are hard to get in the near future. Maybe ordering an extra voltage regulator for my 77 ford Tractor might be a good idea, even an extra set of points might be something I should get because the price of all that stuff is going to go up this year. Maybe an extra coil might be good for each of those two vehicles too. I have extra solenoids for both already. I like having some extra parts around.

originally posted by: Lumenari

originally posted by: Metallicus
I would pay extra for a ‘chipless’ car. I have no love for the high tech auto industry.

Most auto manufacturers will soon get away from the problems with hard wiring and instead will have every system communicate over a wireless network via independent modules.

BMW is already doing it.

What could possibly go wrong?

Damn, I need to get me a horse.

I ain't jokin'. I got the saddle. Gonna buy the rest of the tack soon. You can't put the cart before the horse, but you can put the tack before the horse.

Gonna have to get me a horse.

a reply to: ElGoobero

Fords seem like they are missing parts to begin with without the shortage.

originally posted by: incoserv

originally posted by: Lumenari

originally posted by: Metallicus
I would pay extra for a ‘chipless’ car. I have no love for the high tech auto industry.

Most auto manufacturers will soon get away from the problems with hard wiring and instead will have every system communicate over a wireless network via independent modules.

BMW is already doing it.

What could possibly go wrong?

Damn, I need to get me a horse.

I ain't jokin'. I got the saddle. Gonna buy the rest of the tack soon. You can't put the cart before the horse, but you can put the tack before the horse.

Gonna have to get me a horse.

Great idea!

Go for a Mustang!

Or a Cavallino Rampante

originally posted by: Bluntone22
a reply to: ElGoobero

My wife was car shopping and heard the same story from a Chevy salesman.
He said they could get vehicles delivered because of a chip shortage.

I don’t think he specifically said which vehicles.

I sell Chevys. It's mainly, Silverado, Equinox and Blazer being affected. Malibu and Traverse not as bad.

We normally have 125 new vehicles on the lot, today I counted 17.

a reply to: Encia22

I'd rather the rampaging bull.

a reply to: Lumenari
Oh Lumenari, don't bump start in 1st gear, use 2nd. 1st gear, because it's the lowest gear, puts too much pressure on the gear box and clutch.