40,000 Ford F-150 Vans Could Be Lacking Their Blue Oval Badges: WSJ

• The Wall Avenue Journal studies that Ford expects to be sitting on 40,000 to 45,000 vans on the finish of the third quarter as a result of it would not have sufficient badges to placed on them.
• The issue may not be associated to the supply-chain disruptions attributable to the pandemic. As an alternative, the trigger is likely to be a chemical spill in Michigan final month by Tribar, an organization that has equipped badges to Ford up to now and wanted to restrict operations quickly.
• Ford reportedly thought-about utilizing 3D printing expertise to offer short-term substitute badges however did not suppose the standard could be adequate.

When somebody in Springfield pranked Superintendent Chalmers by eradicating the hood emblem from his 1979 Honda Accord, he complained, “That is how folks know it is a Honda.” Good for amusing on The Simpsons, nevertheless it’s unlikely that anyone will fail to acknowledge the bestselling automobile within the U.S. for many years if it would not say “Ford.” Nonetheless, the automaker is holding again tens of 1000’s of recent F-series pickup vans as a result of the automaker would not have sufficient badges.

Individuals accustomed to the state of affairs informed the Wall Avenue Journal that the scarcity applies to the well-known blue oval Ford badges in addition to those who determine the mannequin. A Ford spokesperson informed the Journal that some automobile shipments are nonetheless taking place as deliberate and that it’s retrofitting autos that do not have the right badges earlier than delivering them to sellers. Ford mentioned it expects to have between 40,000 and 45,000 pickups ready for badges on the finish of the third quarter.

Ford reportedly thought-about 3D printing to make momentary badges however dismissed the thought as a result of it couldn’t assure the short-term replacements would look pretty much as good. The corporate declined to touch upon the 3D printing proposal to the paper. We have now requested Ford for extra particulars about these points.

Ford, and different automakers, had beforehand held again shipments of quite a few fashions due to a scarcity of silicon semiconductor chips, which have been tough for some automakers to acquire for his or her merchandise since 2020 due to the pandemic.

However the lack of badges may not be straight tied to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Journal famous that one in every of Ford’s badge suppliers is Tribar Applied sciences. That identify possible rings a bell for readers in mid-Michigan, as a result of that is the place Tribar “launched a number of thousand gallons of a liquid containing 5 % hexavalent chromium into the sewer system” in August, in line with the Michigan Division of Atmosphere, Nice Lakes, and Power. Hexavalent chromium is a type of the metallic aspect chromium and has been proven to “trigger various hostile well being results by ingestion, pores and skin contact, or inhalation,” the MDEGLE mentioned.

As a part of the chemical cleanup, Tribar was pressured to “restrict operations” in August, the Journal mentioned. This might need brought on a drop within the provide of recent badges. Each Ford and Tribar confirmed their badge-supplying relationship, however neither would discuss to the paper concerning the present state of affairs.

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