Technology

Honda 39710-SZA-A320-M1 Center Information Console Teardown

17 May 2012
The following is an overview of a teardown analysis conducted by IHS Benchmarking.

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.

Honda 39710-SZA-A320-M1 Center Information Console Main ImageHonda 39710-SZA-A320-M1 Center Information Console Main Image

Overall Significance

The 39710-SZA-A320-M1 is essentially a virtual instrument cluster for the Honda Pilot - it is referred to as the 'Center Information Console'. The trend toward large displays in this application area for vehicles is clear, especially in higher end vehicles, and soon may become the norm for most new vehicles, even at the entry-level. This offers the OEMs a lot of flexibility in terms of user experience, because the user interface can be changed just with a software upgrade.

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 is assumed to be a standard part of the 2012 Honda Pilot platform.

Feature Significance

This unit is largely dominated in cost and feature set, by the display which comes from Sharp Electronics (LQ080T5DL01), which is an 8' diagonal display with WQVGA (400 x 240) resolution LCD display. The rest of the unit is cost and feature driven by 'behind-the-scenes' IC content.

Honda 39710-SZA-A320-M1 Center Information Console - Main PCB TopHonda 39710-SZA-A320-M1 Center Information Console - Main PCB Top

Design Significance

As is typical of automotive design, most functions in a car are very 'modular', which gives the auto OEM the ability to better configure consumer choices and offer various options and different price points. Each option tends to come in the form of a completely autonomous module, each of which typically has it's own MCU. Even the rocker switch panels in some auto electronics we have looked at have 32-bit MCUs to control the windows and locks, for example.

This design is no exception and features a surprising amount of electronic content (though from the outside it looks like little more than a housing for a display). This content includes a Renesas 16-bit MCU (R5F64178PFB#UB), a Panasonic audio processor (MN103SH13UB), and a Telechips digital multimedia processor (ARM940 - PN# TCC8600-00X-EAR-AG-I). All of this to support just display and graphics - and that's on top of dedicated GPUs, for example, in the one head unit that features NAV system. This is a boon to MCU manufacturers, but the modularity of automotive designs does create a bit of seeming redundancy and overdesign (a necessary evil to some extent to maintain modularity) for the auto OEMs.

Target Market

Ex: Mass Market

Honda 39710-SZA-A320-M1 Center Information Console - Main PCB BottomHonda 39710-SZA-A320-M1 Center Information Console - Main PCB Bottom

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

60,000 Total Units
3 Total Years

For the purposes of this teardown analysis, we have assumed an Annual Production Volume of 60000 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 39710-SZA-A320-M1 Center Information Console Cost AnalysisHonda 39710-SZA-A320-M1 Center Information Console Cost Analysis

Cost Notes

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: $127.24
Top Cost Drivers below: $101.51
% of Total BOM 80%

Main Cost Drivers below

Sharp LQ080T5DL01 Display Module - 8.0' Diagonal, WQVGA (400x240) Resolution, 174mm x 104mm Viewable Area, w/ 18 Backlight LEDs- (Qty: 1)
6-Layer - FR4, Lead-Free- (Qty: 1)
Enclosure, Main - Injection Molded ABS Polycarbonate, Painted- (Qty: 1)
Renesas R5F64178PFB#UB MCU - 16-Bit R32C/100 CPU, 50MHz, 63KB RAM, 768KB Program Memory, 8 KB Data Flash, 26-Channel 10-Bit ADC, 2-Channel 8-Bit DAC, 1-Channel CAN, 84 I/Os, 8 I2C Bus- (Qty: 1)
Telechips TCC8600-00X-EAR-AG-i Digital Multimedia Processor - ARM940T Core- (Qty: 1)
Enclosure, Main, Front Window - Injection Molded Clear Acrylic, w/ PSA on Edge- (Qty: 1)
Panasonic MN103SH13UB Audio Processor- (Qty: 1)
Micron Technology M29W256GH-7AN6 Flash - NOR, 256Mb, 3V- (Qty: 1)
Ceramic Multilayer - X5R/X7R- (Qty: 226)
Enclosure, Main, Bottom - 2 Pieces, Stamped / Formed Electro-Galvanized Steel, 4 Integra Joints- (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.

Airbag Indicator Module - Mexico
Display Module - Mexico
Main PCB - Mexico
Other - Enclosures / Final Assembly - 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: 2 - Display Module
Component Qty: 1049 - Main PCB
Component Qty: 33 - Other - Enclosures / Final Assembly
Component Qty: 15 - Airbag Indicator Module
Component Qty: 1099 - Grand Total

The best point of comparison we have for this unit is the instrument cluster from the 2011 Ford EDGE. That cluster had conventional electro-mechanical indicators, as well as two small TFT displays, and as such is quite different, as it was still a transitional design, not fully dedicated to a single large screen. That IPC module featured almost 700 components. This unit comes in at greater complexity, despite a clean and simple facade.

Design Notes

This design features a surprising amount of electronic content (though from the outside it looks like little more than a housing for a display). This content includes a Renesas 16-bit MCU (R5F64178PFB#UB), a Panasonic audio processor (MN103SH13UB), and a Telechips digital multimedia processor (ARM940 - PN# TCC8600-00X-EAR-AG-I). All of this to support just display and graphics - and that's on top of dedicated GPUs, for example, in the one head unit that features NAV system. This is a boon to MCU manufacturers, but the modularity of automotive designs does create a bit of seeming redundancy and overdesign (a necessary evil to some extent to maintain modularity) for the auto OEMs.

Honda 39710-SZA-A320-M1 Center Information Console - Disassembly View 1Honda 39710-SZA-A320-M1 Center Information Console - Disassembly View 1



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