5 stars: Aluminum Ford F-150 gets top score for safety - Detroit Free Press
Ford will announce today that the all-new 2015 F-150 pickup has received its first crash-test safety rating, and it's five stars, the highest possible score — an important achievement for an automaker that gambled so heavily in switching to... In fact, the aluminum version received a higher safety rating from the National Highway Safety Traffic Administration than Ford's outgoing traditional model made of steel, which achieved a four-star overall rating. A bad rating for the new model would have been horrendous for Ford, which invested millions of dollars to retool two plants to make the truck with an aluminum body. Ford has already announced it will make its next generation of heavy-duty pickups with aluminum bodies as well. "Customers understand it and can relate to it. ". For trucks relying on traditional steel bodies, General Motors has received five-star overall crash ratings for the 2015 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra full-size light-duty pickups. NHTSA gave its five-star rating to the F-150 aluminum crew cab but has not released a rating for the super cab models. Ford's internal testing of prototypes found the 2015 model performs well in crash tests with all cab styles — but only NHTSA's results matter. Source: www.freep.com
