This is Autoline Daily, reporting on all aspects of the global automotive industry.
IIHS FINDS BIG IMPROVEMENT IN CAR-TO-SUV CRASHES
A few decades ago, a crash with an SUV and a passenger car would likely be fatal for the people in the car. But a new study from the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety found that the safety disparity is starting to decline. From 2013 to 2016, the fatality rate for car-to-SUV crashes with SUVs that were up to four years old was 28% higher than the rate for car-to-car crashes. But that’s down from a rate of 132% from 1989 to 1992. Researchers attribute the improvement to stronger structures and side airbags in cars as well as lower front ends on SUVs. While SUVs have made big strides, it’s a different story for pickups. Drivers in cars and minivans are two and a half times more likely to die in an accident with a pickup than with another car or minivan. Researchers attribute that to the big weight differences in those types of vehicles.
NISSAN TO MAKE OLD PARTS WITHOUT DIES
Nissan developed a new manufacturing technique that could make parts for discontinued models more widely available. Known as dual-sided die-less forming, it involves two robots working from opposite sides of a steel sheet, using diamond-coated tools to shape the steel. In the U.S., automakers are required to make sheet-metal service parts available for 10 years. But keeping old dies around for a decade can be pretty expensive. This new technique is more flexible, has shorter lead times and lower upfront costs, which could make it commercially viable to produce replacement parts for discontinued models for a long time to come.
And be sure to tune into Autoline After Hours this Thursday afternoon for some of the best insider discussions in the industry. That’s 3PM eastern time on our website, Autoline.tv.
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EVs COULD COST PEOPLE THEIR JOBS
However, at some point in the future electric cars are going to catch on and that poses a risk for the tens of thousands of workers who manufacture traditional piston powertrains. A piston engine car uses over 100 forgings. An EV uses less than 10. A traditional car uses 150 pounds of aluminum castings. An EV uses 80. And of course, EVs don’t need radiators, exhaust systems, mufflers and a host of other components. Even if electric cars only reach 25% of all sales, that could eliminate 30,000 jobs just in the U.S. alone. And it’s not as if those jobs can transition to making EV batteries, because battery assembly is already 99% automated. We probably have about a decade before this really hits home and every country that makes cars better start making plans right now to figure out how they’re going to deal with this job displacement.
OEMs UNLIKELY TO MAKE EV MOTORS IN-HOUSE
And along the same lines, will car companies make their own electric motors for electric cars? Probably not. Powertrain executives tell us their customers cannot tell the difference from one electric motor to another. That means automakers can’t use electric motors to differentiate their brands from the competition. So why make them in-house? Besides, there are a number of Tier 1 suppliers who make electric motors, and they can sell them to all automakers. That means suppliers will have even greater manufacturing scale than any car company and will be able to make those engines at lower cost. We can’t cite our sources for this information because no one will talk about it publicly. They’re afraid of scaring all their employees who currently work on internal combustion engines.
HONDA INVENTS NEW AIRBAG
To help improve the safety of its vehicles, Honda R&D Americas developed a new airbag along with airbag supplier Autoliv. It’s designed to reduce the potential for injuries in a wider variety of frontal accidents, particularly front passengers in angled crashes. Unlike conventional airbag systems that have a single inflatable compartment, the new system utilizes four major components: three inflated compartments, a center chamber and two outward-projecting side chambers that create a wide base across the dash, along with a “sail panel” that stretches between the two side chambers at their outermost edge. Similar to a baseball catcher’s mitt, the sail panel catches and decelerates the occupant’s head while also engaging the side chambers, pulling them inward to cradle and protect the head, mitigating the potential for injury.
AUDI DEVELOPS DIGITAL OLEDs
Audi has been at the forefront of lighting technology and in 2016 introduced its first series produced OLED light in the rear taillight of the TT RS. It’s now expanding on that technology with the introduction of digital OLEDs, which are broken up into 50 different segments and each segment can have its brightness adjusted from the one right next to it. That means the same basic hardware could be used on a number of vehicles, but produce a different lighting design for each. Digital OLEDs could also be used to communicate with other road users, like providing a warning that there’s a dangerous situation ahead.
But that wraps up today’s report, thanks for watching.
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Comments (27)
October 6th, 2021 at 12:02 pm
Sean, given the outlook for EV motors that you give here (being outsourced instead of produced in-house), it sounds like carmakers will then be able to focus a lot more dollars and design on good-ole “coach building”. Exciting times to be in automotive design and engineering, for sure!
October 6th, 2021 at 12:09 pm
Isn’t the car/SUV death ratio change mostly the result of “average” SUVs being smaller, as they dominate the market? Several years ago, SUVs were mostly Suburbans, O.J. Broncos, etc. and there were a lot more actual small cars. Now, Rav4 and smaller SUVs are probably the majority.
October 6th, 2021 at 12:12 pm
2 cont. Meanwhile, the pickup trucks just keep getting bigger, and more of a hazard to those who share the road with them.
October 6th, 2021 at 12:26 pm
One EV maker has a lot of aluminum casting for its skateboard much more than 80lb and is going to be a lot more than that, before the end of the year as it gets more large casting parts; which goes to prove even more so the point that there will be even fewer jobs as better design makes the building of cars more efficient
October 6th, 2021 at 12:30 pm
#3 if they pay the license plate fees and have insurance they have as much right on the road as small little electric vehicles, everyone doesn’t want the same vehicles to drive as certain people do. If some people have there way we will be riding bicycles and walking.
October 6th, 2021 at 12:38 pm
Are the OEMs again leaning toward OUTSOURCING another major component to a supplier, that being electric motors! Has the chip shortage taught them nothing! I get it that with all the automakers around the world and their need to role their vehicles on tires, there has never been a tire shortage! This is despite the fact that there are fewer tire companies around the world, then they are automakers. Having said that, there was the Takata airbag situation that touched just about every automaker around the world, because most of them, in one way or another use that air bag! As mentioned in today’s report, automakers are going to be saving billions because of the fewer components that are required for an electric vehicles. Are OEMs so determined to send moore of that money to the top Executives and CEOs, that they will hand off these important aspects of their electric vehicles, to suppliers and only hope for the best? Is it really worth the risk? Will it really cost them that much to build them themselves, for, as was said, they have few parts compared to and ICE?! Look at GM and their Bolt’s electrical Hardware! They had to stop selling the vehicles, because of a problem with the battery packs assembled by A supplier! What is the saying, if you don’t consider the past, you are doomed to repeat it!
October 6th, 2021 at 12:53 pm
I’m not so sure about the generic EV motor concept. GM has already started branding their batteries and motors using the Ultium name. And Lucid is claiming their proprietary technology makes their EVs the most efficient on the market.
I am sure the supplier community would love to own electric motor manufacturing but I think some OEMs will keep it in-house to claim unique advantages and native compatibility with their software and batteries. I think its too early to call this one.
October 6th, 2021 at 12:58 pm
5 All true, but the fact remains that as pickups get bigger, they become even more of a hazard to other road users. Maybe insurance for the 6000 pound trucks is too cheap.
October 6th, 2021 at 12:59 pm
6 Maybe the companies now making starter motors and alternators will just switch over to making motors for EVs. Aren’t there only about 3 or 4 companies making starter motors?
October 6th, 2021 at 1:03 pm
@3:21legacy auto out sourcing traction motors and whole drivetrains? Nothing new here, as Sandy Munro has said in his show, Munro Live, most automakers have become assemblers, they buy components from OEMs and put them together,current chip shortage impacting them hard enough that they can’t put their vehicles together for lack of parts.
VWs CEO now says they have to work harder and redo Wolfsburg because it takes 3 times as much time to build BEVs compared to some other BEV factories, wonder who that is, I do know the XPeng x5 is very affordable in China.
And the Tesla mod 3 and mod Y is almost sold out into the end of the year , even as they are producing them like cookies,by the way those Tesla Mega Cast pieces are now being produced for front and back ends of the mod Y, John McElroy might be right, legacy auto might have to adopt Megacast to compete in the future, another loss of jobs there.
October 6th, 2021 at 1:14 pm
10 In the 1920s, when there were hundreds of car companies, most of them bought engines from Continental and Lycoming. The few car companies that have survived now make their own engines, which partly define the brand, especially with car enthusiasts. Electric motors are not that way. They do not change the “character” of a car. Only the throttle mapping and electronic gadgetry has much effect on how an electric powertrain works. EV motors will soon become a commodity product. I’d predict that Borg-Warner, Bosch, Denso and a couple other will be supplying a majority of EV motors within 5 years.
October 6th, 2021 at 1:15 pm
#7 GM vet , GM Bolt was “LG Inside” one reason it has been recalled.
With Tesla, Panasonic supplies the bare cells Tesla puts the whole battery pack and BMS together that control , cool and fuses that make the cells isolate themselves in the event of a thermal runaway, a loss of a few cells does not render the pack a fire hazard.
October 6th, 2021 at 1:34 pm
#11 Kit, not sure the cost of btraction motors and their electronics and the inverters, but Tesla margins are around 18% to 25% per car, some say close to 30%,and they just raised the prices as of yesterday, but even then all are sold out till 2022,and in NA at least for the mod Y till April 2022 anyway.
FYI the Texas giga factory footprint is nearly a mile long and 3 floor and some 4 floor levels ,a massive factory under one roof, with a minimum of 4 Megacast machines.
Might be Elon Musk’s -” Machine that builds the Machine.
As John McElroy says “wait ’till they start producing cars, beating BMWs 2 million output”. Sorry if I got the quote wrong,but you know what I mean.
October 6th, 2021 at 3:03 pm
#11 I believe Magna is going to be making BEV traction Motors and they are one of the biggest OEMs , FYI, Magna was Mitsubishi Electrics landlord in Canada, at one point, I worked for Mitsu. in 1985-1987 Their office was right next door, in Markham ,Ontario .
October 6th, 2021 at 3:03 pm
#11 I believe Magna is going to be making BEV traction Motors and they are one of the biggest OEMs , FYI, Magna was Mitsubishi Electrics landlord in Canada, at one point, I worked for Mitsu. in 1985-1987 Their office was right next door, in Markham ,Ontario .
October 6th, 2021 at 3:04 pm
Thank you #6 wmb I wonder how dumb these executives are in Detroit? They should be producing chips in the USA already and building cars instead of cuttings production. Now they want to outsource electric motors of course they don’t remember that Tesla makes their own motors because they build a better motor than the cheap outsourced electric motors.
October 6th, 2021 at 3:10 pm
#6 & #16 , don’t say that here, you will get crucified ,and ridiculed, legacy fans, and the commenters here say GM and Ford make the best moves & decisions.
October 6th, 2021 at 3:43 pm
17 – I don’t think that is the case. Most posters here call them as they see them. All companies make good and bad decisions. Except for Tesla and Mr. Musk in your opinion, I suppose. They seem to only make good decisions.
12 – Thank goodness Tesla has never had any vehicle fires. Oh wait, aren’t they under federal investigation for that right now? And how many people have died using the Tesla AutoPilot equipment that is continually and irresponsibly overhyped by the company and its leader?
The legacy automakers don’t make all bad decisions and Tesla’s track record isn’t flawless either. So, quit feeling so targeted. No one has it out for Tesla and you don’t need to defend them. Its just automotive news, Rey.
October 6th, 2021 at 3:57 pm
14,15 Yeah, Magna could be a big player in the commodity traction motor business.
13 With the decline of unions, maybe more vertical integration could make sense, if the OEMs can achieve similar efficiency to traditional suppliers, and pay similarly. Maybe that’s what Ford has in mind with their planned “Rouge of the South.” I suppose they expect it to be non-union, being in Tennessee.
October 6th, 2021 at 4:10 pm
16 As someone who worked in a OEM semiconductor fab for years, I can safely say that in today’s world, it does not make sense for car companies to make their own IC chips. With the help of a pandemic, the car companies certainly “blew it” regarding supply chain/ordering issues, but that doesn’t mean they should start making their own ICs. That is a very specialized business.
October 6th, 2021 at 4:19 pm
16, 20 – And, while the chip shortage gets all of the headlines, if there was no chip shortage there would still be large production cuts. There are many suppliers that are struggling to produce enough product to meet their contracts and are faced with raw material shortages of their own. Its just that the chip shortage is so severe that it is masking these other supply shortages. The car companies aren’t facing a chip shortage, its an across-the-board supply shortage that is affecting every part of their organizations.
October 6th, 2021 at 5:10 pm
21) That is the absolute truth. If it wasn’t for the chip shortage, everyone would see that it is pretty ugly right now with shortages on everything. It isn’t just Christmas toys stuck off the coast of California in those cargo ships.
October 6th, 2021 at 5:35 pm
#18 GM vet, You retired too early , GM needs yor help w the Dolt, at leasthelp them w the 50 ft parking restrictions , you can be the Jockey LOL, of that NHTSA fire investigation? Went nowhere, cleared, its in the news,
GM can’t save itself if you threw them a rope, they’d use that rope to hang themselves.
October 6th, 2021 at 5:51 pm
23 Models S and X have a much higher non-crash fire rate than other competing vehicles. Go to near the end of the article.
“Fires are less frequent in Teslas and other EVs vs. gas vehicles” https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1133254_fires-are-less-frequent-in-teslas-and-other-evs-vs-gas-vehicles
October 6th, 2021 at 6:26 pm
#19.) Kit
I’m not commenting to pick fights or to point fingers, for I truly believe where there is good competition, the consumer wins! It’s just the thought that local OEMs can’t “achieve similar efficiency” as start-ups and transport automakers, because they use union workers, is hard to except when top executives make millions. This takes me back to years ago, when there were reports of the quality issues at the Big Three, were as a result of lazy and intoxicated line workers! While there is NO excuse for that type of work behavior, it’s not the line workers that were responsible for poorly designed components, bad design and inferior quality materials. No one, I say ago, N ONE, should be paid for poorworkmanship and work ethic, period! At the same time, no one should be rewarded with better jobs and pay for bad decision making at the top either! During those dark days, there was enough blame to go around on both sides and they seem to have learned the hard way from their mistakes. What Hurts The Big 3 today, though, IMHO, is not the Union, but legacy* costs, which most of the transplants and the start-ups do not have! I understand that BEV tech is expensive right now, the trade off is that it will cost OEMs less to actually build them (few parts required, few people to assemble, yet higher transaction prices for each vehicle). I’m sure there are a few issues that they will need to work out, but in the end this is going to be good for the OEMs. The more that get into this space, the more competitive the market will be and the better it will be for consumer!
* Legacy cost of The Big Three do not include the cost of health care, which is now covered by the Union. That being said, executive salaries are only increasing, many of whom indivial salaries are already in the millions.
October 7th, 2021 at 1:25 am
Nissan’s spare parts robot would be a great way to make concept or even low volume ‘halo’ cars. Combined with 3d printing driven by the CAD system(s), and voila, functioning concept cars that can actually provide useful, preproduction metrics.
As for ‘commodity’ EV motors and parts, ask the Bolt owners going through a multi-billion dollar recall. They are so pleased … NOT!
October 7th, 2021 at 7:36 am
Commodity motors are not the issue with the Bolt.
25 Don’t suppliers generally have lower pay and lesser benefits than OEMs, especially “legacy” OEMs? That is why I figured big escalation of vertical integration unlikely. I could be wrong.