New Aluminum Ford F-150 Crash Test Reveals Serious Injury Risk - ClaimsJournal.com
In a crash test of Ford Motor Co. ’s new aluminum-bodied F-150 pickup, an extended-cab version suffered damage that presented a risk of serious injury to the driver, the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety said. Ford’s larger SuperCrew F-150, equipped with an extra steel safety structure, passed with low risk of injury. The F-Series pickup is Ford’s top-selling and most profitable model and is the first mass-market vehicle with an all-aluminum body. General Motors Co. , which sells steel-body pickups, has attacked Ford’s truck in ads depicting consumers selecting the safety of steel over aluminum. “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,” David Zuby, IIHS’s chief researcher, said in a statement Thursday. “That shortchanges buyers who might pick the extended cab thinking it offers the same protection in this type of crash as the crew cab. Top-Selling Version Ford chose to first put the extra safety supports on the SuperCrew because that’s the top-selling version of the F-150, Raj Nair, the automaker’s global product development chief, said in an interview. Source: www.claimsjournal.com
