Aluminum-sided Ford F-150 gets mixed crash test results from insurance industry

The automaker said it is addressing its poor performance in the small overlap front crash test, noting that the test was adopted as the truck was being designed.

Ford’s aluminum-sided F-150 pickup saw mixed results in new crash tests. The extended cab, or SuperCab, earns good ratings in the moderate overlap front, side, roof strength and head restraint evaluations but just a marginal rating for occupant protection in a small overlap front crash. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) did the due diligence to come up with the comprehensive results and safety ratings for the new truck.

The IIHS praised and criticized Ford. Tjhe crew cab was named a rare Top Safety Pick. “It doesn’t”. The problem with the extended cab is that it doesn’t come with the same structural supports that mitigate damage on the SuperCrew. IIHS hasn’t rated the regular cab. It didn’t earn the top safety award. The IIHS had already tested the SuperCrew in the spring. “What’s more, even the lower-selling extended cab sales top those of numerous passenger vehicles we rate”, Zuby said. “The tests that NHTSA and IIHS have done have proven on an engineering basis that that’s just a fact”. “We expect them to make the changes in their other pickup variants as well”, IIHS spokesman Russ Rader said.

The latest crash test results for the Ford F-150 show that body styles lead to much different outcomes.

The answer, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, is an unequivocal “yes”. It poses a challenge for the vehicle to manage crash energy. There was plenty of “survival space” for both passenger and driver.

“That test mode was introduced in the middle of the development of the F-150”, Nair said. But in the extended cab there were significant intrusions from the toepan, parking brake and brake pedal and the likelyhood of suffering moderate injuries to your left leg and thigh were high. Further, the steering column was pushed back almost eight inches, coming “dangerously close” to the dummy’s chest. The dummy’s head brushed by the front air bag before sliding off to the left and hitting the instrument panel. The Super Crew version had extra, horn-like pieces of steel fitted to the front of the frame to help the vehicle absorb the force of the small overlap crash.

Rivals – especially GM – have been eager to raise questions about the strength of the aluminum version.

In the ads, the people go to the steel cage, delivering a message that steel is safer. Not surprisingly, they choose steel. In the area of crash avoidance and mitigation, IIHS assigns vehicles with available front crash prevention systems ratings of basic, advanced or superior, based on the type of system and performance in track tests.

This newer test has been tough for many models. It found that fix damages were 26 percent higher for the aluminum F-150 when compared with its steel predecessor.

Ford disagrees with the IIHS findings. For the most part, he said, costs have been about the same.

Truck owners should be sure to take a damaged vehicle to one of the 750 dealers and 800 independent body shops that have been certified to work on the truck’s aluminum components, he added. Over the first half of the year, sales of Ford’s flagship have faltered. Ford chipped in up to $10,000 in rebates to purchase equipment for aluminum repairs to any interested dealer with a service shop.