Ford says its engineers have increased the use of lightweight materials on the new F-150 pickup to yield a weight saving of 700 pounds versus the current model.
The use of high-strength steel in the new Ford F-150 frame has been increased from from 23% to 77% to save up to 60 pounds of weight.
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Ford also said that the use of high-strength, ‘military-grade’, aluminium-alloy body combined with the high-strength steel frame, means that the new F-150 is nearly 700 pounds lighter than the current model.
“The frame is the backbone of the truck, and we delivered a frame that is stronger and more capable than before,” said John Caris, F-150 lead frame engineer. “Our frame team developed exclusive, industry-first engineering techniques to create a truck foundation that is lighter without sacrificing toughness. This F-150 frame is the toughest we have ever built.”
High-strength, aluminium alloys are used throughout the F-150 body for the first time, improving dent and ding resistance, and also saving weight, Ford says.
Ford maintains that the new F-150 will tow more, haul more, accelerate quicker and stop shorter, contributing to better efficiency in use.
“Our objective was to find materials that allowed us to design the truck to be as tough – or tougher – than the current model, yet could help it be hundreds of pounds lighter for better capability and fuel economy,” said Pete Friedman, manager, Ford manufacturing research. “Out of all the materials we tested, we carefully selected only certain grades of aluminium that met our high performance standards in all of our tests, while allowing us to trim hundreds of pounds from the truck.”
Ford claims the new Ford F-150 is the most tested F-150 in history; it will have undergone more than 10 million miles of testing by the time it goes on sale.
“We put the truck through some of our testing longer and further than we have ever done before,” said Ford development manager Peter Frantzeskakis. “All of this extra testing proved we were on the right track with our designs and our materials.”
“The testing has been fantastic from a durability perspective,” Frantzeskakis added. “The aluminium box exceeded our expectations in a lot of areas.”
The F-series pickup cruised to its 32nd year as America’s best selling vehicle in 2013.
