Mixed crash-test results for aluminum Ford F-150s - The Detroit News
2015 Ford F-150 crew cabThis crash test duplicates what happens when the front corner of the vehicle hits a utility pole at 40 mph. But two Ford F-150 models with different configurations — one a crew cab and the other an extended cab — scored far differently in safety tests. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety on Thursday awarded Ford’s 2015 F-150 four-door crew cab its coveted Top Safety Pick. Its sister version, the two-door extended cab, got only a marginal rating in a test that measures what happens when the front corner of a vehicle hits a utility pole at 40 mph. F-150s are the only aluminum-bodied trucks on the market, and were the first full-size pickups to undergo IIHS testing of the so-called small overlap crash test. Repair costs for low-speed fender-benders, IIHS noted, were 26 percent higher for the aluminum-body trucks than their steel-body 2014 predecessors. “Ford added structural elements to the crew cab’s front frame to earn a good small overlap rating and a Top Safety Pick award, but didn’t do the same for the extended cab,” Zuby added. “That shortchanges buyers who might pick the extended cab thinking it offers the same protection in this type of crash as the crew cab. Source: www.detroitnews.com
