Ford announced that it will build F150 trucks and Edge SUVs in North America without certain modules including at least one for infotainment features.
Due to shortages in semiconductors, Ford will build the vehicles and then hold them for “a number of weeks,” until it can secure the proper modules. It will ship the vehicles to dealers once the modules become available and quality checks are completed.
Ford told Automotive News that the modules temporarily deleted are “tied to basic vehicle functions, such as windshield wiper motors and infotainment features.”
Ford said chip problems are due both to global shortages and storms in February.
Similarly, General Motors announced on Monday that it was building some of its 2021 trucks without a fuel management module due to chip shortages. In the case of GM, it is not holding the trucks but releasing them to dealers without the module, which will lower the fuel economy of those vehicles by one mile per gallon.
Ford said if the chip shortage continues through the first half of the year it could affect its earnings (before taxes and interest) by $1 billion to $2.5 billion.
Source: Ford, Automotive News
