Ford continues to grapple with the microchip shortage…
According to a new report from Automotive News, Ford has found a new way to ration microprocessor chips that your kids or grandkids aren’t going to like. The automaker apparently will ship some Ford Explorers to dealerships without installing the chips which power rear air conditioning and heating controls. While that might not seem like a big deal to some people, this most certainly will lead to major familial schisms, and we’re not even joking.
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This doesn’t mean there will be no heating or air conditioning for the rear seats, before you start panicking. However, anyone sitting in the rear seats won’t be able to change the settings. Instead, they’ll have to bug the driver or front passenger to do that, which no doubt will lead to many annoyances. It’s sad that such a luxury is now considered a necessity these days, but people used to say the same thing about having air conditioning in a car at all.
If you happen to get one of these Explorers, don’t worry. Ford says it totally owes you one and will definitely ship it to your dealer within a year where it can be installed by a technician. Yeah, it’s not the same as having it installed in the factory and you’ll have to deal with the inconvenience for months on end, but you know the Blue Oval is good for its word on sending that chip, so relax a little.
With the car chip supply shortage which has been going on for well over a year, we’ve seen automakers cut all kinds of features in vehicles. Sure, they’re conserving chips for important things like the ignition system, but not being able to adjust our seats 28 different ways seems a little unreasonable. And while Toyota has figured out how to get its chip supply back to normal since December, Ford and others seem to still be struggling. Multiple plans to make microprocessors in the United States are underway, so relief might only be a short 2-3 years away.
Source: Automotive News
Images via Ford
