Lack of chip causes a problem for the assembler to comply with the emission rule - ISTOÉ MONEY

The lack of imported semiconductors from Asia, which has led automakers to suspend production and lay off workers temporarily, is causing yet another problem for the auto industry.

With the entry into force, from January 1st, of the new Proconve pollutant emission standard, called L7, there is a risk that thousands of cars that are incomplete in the yards will not receive electronic items imported from Asia in time and will have to be discarded.

The new standard establishes that cars that comply with current legislation are produced by December and sold by March of next year. If the chips do not arrive on time and the end of assembly is until January, for example, these models cannot be sold, causing losses to manufacturers.

Some automakers, such as Renault, have already sent a request to the government to open a loophole in the legislation so that cars that turn the year around incomplete in the yards can be completed in up to three months.

The National Association of Automotive Vehicle Manufacturers (Anfavea) has been warning the government about this problem for some months, but informs that the search for a solution with the competent government bodies is the responsibility of the companies themselves, as each one has different situations.

The entity does not currently have data on the total number of incomplete cars, nor does it have an estimate of damage, but the automakers themselves speak of “thousands” of stopped cars.

General Motors, which had one of its factories paralyzed for nearly five months due to a lack of semiconductors, says it will have no problem servicing the L7 from January onwards.

Volkswagen, which has 1,500 employees at the São Paulo ABC plant on lay-off due to the shortage of chips, informs that it expects to receive the components in time to complete the cars that are parked in the yard by the end of the year.

Other brands such as Honda, Nissan and Caoa/Chery claim that Anfavea should comment on the subject, while Hyundai declined to comment and Toyota says it will comply with the new standards.

SAFETY. Anfavea has already obtained from the government an extension of the deadline for the introduction, in all cars produced in the country, of safety items such as the electronic stability control (ESC), which helps to prevent vehicles from skidding.

The standard would come into effect in 2022, but due to the pandemic, manufacturers claimed they did not have enough time to develop new technologies to add this system to cars.

The government accepted the extension of the deadline to 2024. Both the new emission standards and especially the safety one will lead companies to stop producing several models that do not meet the standards, such as Uno and Gol. Information is from the newspaper The State of São Paulo.