Honda 39100-SZA-A31 Head-End Unit Teardown

IHS Insight Perspective

Honda and Infotainment - Honda has a two-pronged approach to infotainment systems, with higher-end infotainment systems going into models such as the Pilot and Odyssey, and a lower end package aimed at the Civic, CRV,CRZ, and Insight models. The high end of the spectrum even include hard drive based NAV systems. Honda often offers premium audio systems, but that are not branded (such as branding with Bose or Harman Kardon). Furthermore, Honda has also historically taken somewhat of a follower role in telematics by not implementing features such as OnStar (or its equivalent), or advanced Bluetooth options. In this aspect Honda have been a bit of a laggard vs. brands such as Hyundai, Toyota, GM and Ford. On the other hand Honda offer free FM radio transmitted traffic updates (as opposed to a paid subscription service) which represents an advantage over other automotive OEMs.

The 39100-SZA-A31 is a head unit for the 2012 Honda Pilot. This is an entire self-contained unit that features the CD drive, display as well as all of the tuners and supporting electronics for the audio-infotainment in one top-level assembly that includes all of the front-facing bezels and cosmetic covers. Automotive infotainment systems are becoming increasing important to consumers and figure heavily in car buying decisions as a 'fast moving' public gravitates towards the latest smartphones, they have come to expect more from their in-car electronics. The connected car is now the third fasted growing connected device behind smartphones and tablets and it is this fact that is driving each and every automaker to compete so vigorously for the crown of best in-vehicle infotainment. This system, as part of the 2012 Honda Pilot platform, represents one variant of the in-dash OEM head units that come with Honda Pilots.

Feature Significance

This is a fairly conventional OEM head unit featuring a small custom 4.5' diagonal monochrome display (it is assumed that this goes into lower value options packages - per notes 'for models without rear entertainment system'), with a front facing slot load CD drive, AM/FM/IBOC-DAB/Weather Band tuner.

Honda 39100-SZA-A31 Head-End Unit - Main PCB Top

This design has a modest feature set which keeps the design simple. There are not a lot of sub-assemblies in this design and all of the core electronics are on the Main PCB. Overall complexity is very simple when compared with higher end units we have examined. The radio tuner module is from unknown provenance, but features an NXP TEF6721HL radio tuner IC (AM/FM/IBOC-DAB/Weather Band, AM LW/MW/SW, FM 64MHz-108MHz, US Weather Band 162.4MHz-162.55MHz). The core of the design is also a 32-bit Renesas MCU (UPD70F3368GJ(A)) which operates at 32MHz. The audio side is supported by an NXP SAF7730HV audio DSP, and a Toshiba Semiconductor audio power amplifier (TA8281HQ).

Target Market

Mass Market

Released

2011 Assumed

This head unit is part of the 2012 Honda Pilot which appears to have undergone a refresh for 2012 - so this equipment should be at the beginning of it's lifecycle (3 years) for Honda.

Pricing and Availability

N/A MSRP

No market price is established for this type of unit as it is OEM to OEM or internally built for use in vehicles.

USA

Availability - North American 2012 Honda Pilot automobiles - depends on options package

Volume Estimations

35,000 Total Units
3 Total Years

For the purposes of this teardown analysis, we have assumed an Annual Production Volume of 35000 units and a Product Lifetime Volume of 3 year(s).

Teardown volume and production assumptions are primarily used for our cost analysis in terms of amortized NRE and tooling costs, especially for custom components specific to the model being analyzed (mechanical components especially). Unless assumed volumes are different by an order of magnitude, minor changes in volume (say 1 million vs. 2) rarely have a large net effect on our final analysis because of this.

Honda 39100-SZA-A31 Head-End Unit Cost Analysis

Automotive electronics typically have specifications or require special vendor qualification processes that typically come at a premium (which varies from component to component) over less rigorously spec'ed commercial product. We always make a best effort to account for this across the board in automotive products.

Total BOM: $122.75
Top Cost Drivers below: $62.63
% of Total BOM 51%

Main Cost Drivers below

CD Drive - Slot Load, Internal- (Qty: 1)
Display Module - 4.5' Diagonal, Monochrome, w/ Sanyo LC75836 LCD Driver & 10 High Intensity White LED Backlight- (Qty: 1)
Renesas - UPD70F3368GJ(A) - MCU - 32-Bit, 32MHz, 60KB RAM, 1MB Flash ROM, 128 I/O Ports, 16-Bit Timer, 1-Channel IEBus/CAN Controller, 16-Channel 10-Bit ADC, 2-Channel 8-Bit DAC, 4-Channel DMA, UARTA/I2C/CSIB Interface (Qty: 1)
PCB - 4-Layer - FR4, Lead Free- (Qty: 1)
Radio Tuner Module - AM/FM/IBOC-DAB/Weather Band- (Qty: 1)
Toshiba Semiconductor TA8281HQ Audio Power Amplifier- (Qty: 1)
LEDs - White- (Qty: 36)
NXP SAF7730HV/323 Audio DSP- (Qty: 1)
Fujitsu - MB91F463N - MCU - 32-bit FR70 Core, 10KB RAM, 4KB Cache, 288KB Flash, 8-Channel ADC, 2-Channel I2C, For Automotive (Qty: 1)
Heatsink - Die-Cast Aluminum, Machined- (Qty: 1)

Not Included in Analysis

The total materials and manufacturing costs reported in this analysis reflect ONLY the direct materials cost (from component vendors and assorted EMS providers), AND manufacturing with basic test. Not included in this analysis are costs above and beyond the material manufacture of the core device itself - cost of intellectual property, royalties and licensing fees (those not already included into the per component price), software, software loading and test, shipping, logistics marketing and other channel costs including not only EMS provider and the OEM's margin, but that of other resellers. Our cost analysis is meant to focus on those costs incurred in the manufacture of the core device and exceptionally in some circumstances the packaging and literature as well.

We do provide an Excel tab ''Overall Costs'' where a user can enter their known pre and post production costs to build a per unit cost reflective of theirs actual expenditures.

Manufacturing Notes

As with most electronic hardware, this equipment may be built for Honda by an outside contract manufacturer, but may also be built in-house. For the purposes of our analysis, our cost structures in manufacturing represent the cost to the manufacturer, without markup. If an EMS is involved, one would have to add a fair margin for the EMS provider, on top of our cost assessment, in order to provide a 'fair price' to the manufacturer. EMS providers often operate in the low single digits on margins, but tend to make up for such low margins when working with low volume products such as this.

Country of Origin

For the purposes of this analysis, we are assuming the following country(ies) of origin for each level of assembly, based on a combination of 'Made In' markings, and/or assumptions based on our knowledge of such equipment.

Display Module - Mexico
Main PCB - Mexico
Misc PCB Assemblies - Mexico
Other - Enclosures / Final Assembly - Mexico
Storage Device - Mexico

Country of origin assumptions relate directly to the associated cost of manufacturing, where calculated by iSuppli. In the cases of 'finished' sub-assemblies (such as display modules and optical drives), we do not calculate internal manufacturing costs, but rather assess the market price of the finished product in which case country of origin assumptions may or may not have a direct effect on pricing.

Labor rates are applied directly only to hand inserted components and systems in our bill of materials, and although regional assumptions do, these new rates do not have a direct effect on our modeled calculations of placement costs for automated SMD assembly lines. ?Auto" inserted components (such as SMT components) placement costs are calculated by an iSuppli algorithm which allocates a cost per component based on the size and pincount of the device. This calculation is affected by country or region of origin as well.

Design Complexity

Component counts by assembly and the number of assembly are indicators of design complexity and efficiency.

Component Qty: 934 - Main PCB
Component Qty: 147 - Other - Enclosures / Final Assembly
Component Qty: 1 - Storage Device
Component Qty: 240 - Misc PCB Assemblies
Component Qty: 33 - Display Module
Component Qty: 1355 - Grand Total

Though every design is different, and component counts tend to be feature-driven - t's worth noting we have seen some Japanese head units with far far more components in them - and as a result, it's often hard for us to prejudge the inherent complexity of such systems. Surprises abound in this area and we have seen a head unit from Nissan that came in at over 5600 components (that did, in fairness include DTV receiver, touchscreens, etc.), and a Toyota head unit that also came in at over 4300 components. Though counts are feature driven to some extent, clearly this unit is much simpler and means lower cost to assemble as well at a total of only 1355 components (a little more than your average smartphone).

Design Notes

This design has a modest feature set which keeps the design simple. There are not a lot of sub-assemblies in this design and all of the core electronics are on the Main PCB. The radio tuner module is from unknown provenance, but features an NXP TEF6721HL radio tuner IC (AM/FM/IBOC-DAB/Weather Band, AM LW/MW/SW, FM 64MHz-108MHz, US Weather Band 162.4MHz-162.55MHz). The core of the design is also a 32-bit Renesas MCU (UPD70F3368GJ(A)) which operates at 32MHz. The audio side is supported by an NXP SAF7730HV audio DSP, and a Toshiba Semiconductor audio power amplifier (TA8281HQ).

Honda 39100-SZA-A31 Head-End Unit - Disassembly View 1