Anybody heard any updates regarding the 430 airbag issue? Did ferrari get the waiver?
I actually heard the exact opposite -- the rumor is that there's no sympathy for Ferrari inside the DOT...
It's all conjecture now. Time will tell. If they get boned then they will need to get the cars in under the wire and with the limited supply that will keep prices relatively firm. F will probably sell all their 430's worldwide regardless, so they're not too worried. BTW, the Euro is climbing again against the dollar so they'll be keen on selling to more favorable markets if this DOT thing doesn't work for them Also, if it isn't favorable then I doubt that they'd just turn on a dime and launch the next version. They will just play out the 430 according to plan which will only increase US demand because of limited supply I'm curious what they plan to do about the Fiorano???
If the 599 is OK then it would appear they have some type of solution. So, if they don't get approval then just man up and make the change to the 430.
I believe that the 599 was designed with the dual stage air bag system and the automatic NO-passenger "shut-off" sensor as required for '06 US cars. My understanding of the problem for the 430 is that Ferrari doesn't want to spend the money to redesign/change the dash on the 430 to integrate the new features required of '06 cars, not that they do not already have the hardware and software in house to meet these new air bag standards.
Sounds like a pretty minor issue to me. This is only about the passenger shut off detection? That is an easy fix. Takes a new wiring harness and sensors on the seat. Should take three months at the most to implement - even with long lunch brakes.
I was told by the local F guys that 430s have almost stopped coming in the US and many of the cars are be diverted to customers in other countries. They have made inquires on behalf of their customers on delivery updates and they get no response. This has been going on for over 2 weeks. Does not sound good for US bound 430s. Ferrari makes more profit in every other country. Therefore, at the end of the day they may just decide to say FU DOT. We will sell them on other countries where they are not such a pain in the ass. And oh BTW...we make more money thank you very much!!!!!!!!!
This is from a VERY reputable source of mine, take it as you will: With Russia and Asia becoming a bigger market, their taking alot of the cars that were intended for the U.S. meaning much less will be coming into the U.S. then originally planned. The F430 airbag issue is something Ferrari is not going to redesign the dash for. They've already made this very clear to the DOT and are requesting a waiver. This is going to delay F430's coming into the U.S. for an approximate 90 days, which means even further delays for people that have F430's on order. This is not the first time Ferrari has requested a waiver from the DOT. Chances are they will get the waiver and it will just delay some orders. The chance of the F430 becoming discontinued in the states is very very small. Ferrari's arguement is that a very small percentage of F430 owners have children under 12 and a very small percentage of them would even let their child under 12 in a Ferrari.
I understand that the issue (if there is an issue) won't be an issue until September 2006 when the reg would take effect. So, any delays to the U.S. prior to that would not make sense IMO.
Correct, and that's when the delay will begin. The delays prior to that were because of Asia and Russia.
And thus any ordered or in process beforehand will be here (volume constraint would have affected the number of orders being placed - not ones whom have placed orders)
In the petition for exemption Ferrari described the problems as technical and not financial. There is no room inside the F430 to install the updated airbags and no manufacturer is willing to redesign their systems (airbag or seat monitoring) for Ferrari. The engineering capability inside Ferrari to design the hardware and software for the new(old) airbag requirements does not exist. The delay would be indefinite, US Customs will not allow Ferrari to import the F430 into the USA after the September 1st deadline without a NHTSA waiver. All orders with an expected delivery after that date would be cancelled by FNA or changed to the 2008 F430 successor.
Didn't know the exact date but to clear up my original post what I meant is after the deadline is when the delay will happen as you have already mentioned.
"The auto manufacturers have all known about the regulations since ~1998 but according to Ferrari the 430 is basically an unchanged 360 from the early nineties." It's interesting how F in the brochures etc. claim the 430 is vastly different than the 360 but when it comes right down to it they state the above. It sure feels a lot different
Found this on Ferrari's extranet today: Dodging a possible ban on sales of cars built after September 1, Ferrari was granted a waiver from the federal safety agency from the advanced airbag requirements. Facing a potential ban on sales of its bread-and-butter F430 Modena model, Ferrari successfully petitioned the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for an exemption on a crash safety requirement meant to protect children and small women from injury by airbag deployment in a crash. The company demonstrated that few such small women and virtually no children ride in its cars and that it would be impractical to upgrade the cars to meet the more stringent requirement. Further, as a small company whose sales are half the government's 10,000-unit threshold for consideration of economic hardship, the company's profits would suffer a $53 million dent from a ban on sales of the cars. The car not only provides a wide variety of advanced active and passive safety equipment such as stability control and seatbelt pre-tensioners, but the shortcoming in the airbag test only applies to those small occupants when they are out of the normal seating position. "We think that Ferrari made a very compelling argument for a two-year exemption," said NHTSA spokesman Rae Tyson. "We evaluated [Ferrari's petition] and we think it will have minimal if any effect on safety," he said. "It is really for a very narrow portion of the advanced airbag test." NHTSA's research couldn't find any examples of such occupants being injured in crashes of F430s or 360s, and the company will install a manual cutoff switch for the passenger's side airbag and offer customers a child safety seat that will automatically deactivate the airbag when it is installed. The exemption applies to model-year 2007 and 2008 cars, after which the F430 will be replaced by a compliant-successor model.
There's an article over at Autoweek about it: http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060522/FREE/60522003/1041 Thank God!
