Does anyone know? With all the concern about the current shortage of chips (semiconductors) in the auto industry (I haven’t followed how much it has affected Toyota Motors), I’m curious how the numbers compare. Back in 2012, chip shortages simply weren’t a problem, of course. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that Toyota needs 10x the number in my car in order to equip a base or middle-trim regular size 2022 model.
The number of computer chips isn't as important, as is the availability of all of the required computer chips. An analogy, Martha Stewart shared her recipe to make two of the best-est pies ever ever made. Yum, yum. You have important company coming over, so you want to make some of the best-est pies ever. Your first pie requires "Onion Salt" (eww!). But, there's no "Onion Salt" available anywhere in the world. For every other ingredient, there are tons and tons available anywhere. Thankfully, your second pie-type has every ingredient available anywhere. No problems at all! So, you can make plenty of the second-type of pie, but non of the first-type. Your guest arrives, and they tell you that they are allergic to celery, and your second-type of pie is a celery pie (also eww). So, your guest says you're a horrible host, and posts on social media how they almost literally starved to death by going to your house, and you loose your job, your house, everything. The moral of the story: Don't listen to the suggestions of a Convicted Felon! Code: https://www.republicreport.org/2021/convicted-felon-martha-stewart-to-keynote-convention-involving-predatory-for-profit-colleges/
toyota has shut down much of their production due to the shortage and covid. what you will find, like any company, is that they will produce as many of their most profitable cars as possible
Yes modern cars have tons of electronics and many are very expensive to replace. I have a good scan tool which communicates with the computers so it shows how many are in the vehicle. Both our 2017 and 2021 Priis have 44. My daughter's 2016 Mazda CX-5 only has 22 while my other daughters' 2012 Toyota Sienna has 33. When the chip shortage started, Toyota seemed to be doing well and we didn't see many effects but it's caught up to them so they, too, are having to slow some things. I've even heard of Ford actually shipping vehicles to dealership without certain chips and, later, sending the chips there to have them installed. (Not sure I agree with this practice...are they 100% sure the chips are good and are there any quality checks before selling the vehicle or does Bubba grease monkey just go pop it in and call it good?)
