Aluminum-bodied F-150 crew cab aces safety tests, F-150 extended cab does not - MLive.com
DETROIT, MI - The new F-150 crew cab and extended cab trims are about safe, unless you crash them both at 40 miles per hour into a 5-foot tall barrier, apparently. The two variations of the aluminum-bodied Ford F-150 were both tested for crash safety by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, and one emerged a "Top Safety pick" while the other fell short. The Ford F-150 crew cab, known as the SuperCrew, earned good ratings on all five of the IIHS' latest rounds of tests, including small overlap front, moderate overlap front, side, roof strength and head restraint evaluations. "In a small overlap front crash like this, there's no question you'd rather be driving the crew cab than the extended cab F-150," David Zuby, IIHS chief research officer, said in the IIHS report Thursday. The discrepancy comes because Ford installed tubular steel bars in front of and behind the wheels of its SuperCrew model, but not the SuperCab or the regular cab pickup. "After we tested the crew cab in the spring, questions were raised about the extended cab's ability to match the crew cab's good small overlap performance. Most of the F-150s sold by Ford - or about 70 percent - are SuperCrew models, while SuperCabs make up 25 percent and regular cabs account for about 5 percent. Source: www.mlive.com
