Just finished reading a couple of articles about the Chip Shortage.
For anyone who doesn't know about this, basically there is a world shortage in the number of computer microchips needed for all our modern technology.
Obviously it affects things like computers, phones and other gadgets but these days our gadgets include our cars which are packed full of computer chips and modules to operate everything from the engine management to how long the interior light takes to dim to off.
As a result they have been warning in shortages or long delays in getting new cars, but now the manufactures are dealing with this in a very different way and just deleting options from the specifications of a car without telling anyone.
Some examples which may really only be applicable to high end luxury cars include removing things like Electric seat adjustment, or premium audio system.
Somethings are more trivial like taking away a wireless mobile phone charger that would be built in or reducing the number of UCB ports available for charging.
But there are much bigger things going missing, such as ford and Nissan removing SatNav from many of their models, or BMW removing the Touch screen (just the touch bit not the screen) from their SUV's) sometimes the first customers are finding out about this is when they pick up their new car to find features missing that they just assumed would be there. Tesla is in trouble for removing passenger seat lumber support and not telling anyone.
This all seems kinda petty and silly, non of this stuff is really "needed" per se, but if you're buying a new car at the moment be very careful to make sure you know what you've ordered and what you should get, so you know if anything is missing when the car is finally delivered. You might not be able to get the features you want added, but you might be able to get some money back on the car, or if its something massive and very important to you, then you might want to consider rejecting the car in extreme cases.
The Chip Shortage is expected to be with us for at least another couple of years, so even if you're not buying a new car now, this may be important to you going forward, or even start to effect second hand cars with some being priced the same but missing things compared to slightly older cars
For anyone who doesn't know about this, basically there is a world shortage in the number of computer microchips needed for all our modern technology.
Obviously it affects things like computers, phones and other gadgets but these days our gadgets include our cars which are packed full of computer chips and modules to operate everything from the engine management to how long the interior light takes to dim to off.
As a result they have been warning in shortages or long delays in getting new cars, but now the manufactures are dealing with this in a very different way and just deleting options from the specifications of a car without telling anyone.
Some examples which may really only be applicable to high end luxury cars include removing things like Electric seat adjustment, or premium audio system.
Somethings are more trivial like taking away a wireless mobile phone charger that would be built in or reducing the number of UCB ports available for charging.
But there are much bigger things going missing, such as ford and Nissan removing SatNav from many of their models, or BMW removing the Touch screen (just the touch bit not the screen) from their SUV's) sometimes the first customers are finding out about this is when they pick up their new car to find features missing that they just assumed would be there. Tesla is in trouble for removing passenger seat lumber support and not telling anyone.
This all seems kinda petty and silly, non of this stuff is really "needed" per se, but if you're buying a new car at the moment be very careful to make sure you know what you've ordered and what you should get, so you know if anything is missing when the car is finally delivered. You might not be able to get the features you want added, but you might be able to get some money back on the car, or if its something massive and very important to you, then you might want to consider rejecting the car in extreme cases.
The Chip Shortage is expected to be with us for at least another couple of years, so even if you're not buying a new car now, this may be important to you going forward, or even start to effect second hand cars with some being priced the same but missing things compared to slightly older cars