2015 Aluma-F150 toughness testing

I like the way Ford is doing things these days. We all remember the disguised F150 that ran the Baja recently, right? Did you really thing those aluminum old-style body panels were one-offs? Yeah, me neither. Looks like that wasn't the only testing going on in the wild with disguised trucks - http://www.wired.com/2014/05/ford-f150-aluminum-testing/

short summary - Ford built test models using the new aluminum bed structure and gave them to their toughest industrial customers with instructions to try and kill them two and a half years ago.

Talk about planning ahead....

Notice none of the trucks went to cold salt covered roads. What kind of issues are they going to have where dissimilar metals meet? Anybody thats had an old Land Rover knows whats going to happen. I'm all for saving 700 pounds, but don't fool yourself thinking everything is going to be aok.

In reply to tr8todd:

I wonder about that too. F-150s are very popular in the Snow Belt and Ford would be stupid to neglect that fact when testing the new aluminum bodies.

How do you test for 20 years of salt state abuse?

All automakers do cold weather and salt spray testing, regardless of the model. I wouldn't expect the alum F-150 to be totally impervious to salt, but I do expect it to be significantly better than the steel bodied version.

so the body panels are aluminum? As a Landrover Driver, I fail to see how this is a big deal

In reply to tr8todd:

Salt spray with high pressure nozzles. And it happens to be cold half the year in Michigan too.

That's easy to do behind walls.

haha.. yup what alfadriver said.

Ford is still based here. They don't need to outsource secretly to test on the worst roads in the US with atrocious salt/rust conditions. It's right at their doorstep.

I've done and witnessed salt testing - it can be very intense. I promise Ford has done this.

I want one of the new 2.7's. Damn you Ford!

Gearheadotaku wrote: How do you test for 20 years of salt state abuse?

The same way they tested the 1994 F150.

mad_machine wrote: so the body panels are aluminum? As a Landrover Driver, I fail to see how this is a big deal

Because they are aluminum body panels on a vehicle with reasonable reliability.

Gearheadotaku wrote: How do you test for 20 years of salt state abuse?

and how do you simulate people only taking it thru the automatic car wash (cheap mode, no underbody wash..) every couple of weeks for the first year or two of ownership, then about once a year after that?

In reply to novaderrik:

Believe me, there are plenty of ways to accelerate age and wear thru testing. We do it at our company with our products, and I know for a fact that the car companies do as well (we are a supplier to the auto, truck, and construction industries). I don't have time to go into all the details of what we do, but will tell you that while it's not perfect, it's pretty good at predicting how the product will age in the field.

bravenrace wrote: In reply to novaderrik: Believe me, there are plenty of ways to accelerate age and wear thru testing. We do it at our company with our products, and I know for a fact that the car companies do as well (we are a supplier to the auto, truck, and construction industries). I don't have time to go into all the details of what we do, but will tell you that while it's not perfect, it's pretty good at predicting how the product will age in the field.

did they predict that pretty much every truck that is driven daily- regardless of brand or initial purchase price- will need cab corners in 5 years and rocker panels in 7 years when driven by the average person in a state like MN?

i can't wait to see what the first aluminum trucks to roll off the line look like in that period of time- long enough to be out of warranty and for an "all new and totally improved" styling change to occur that promises to take care of any issues that people complain about..

In reply to novaderrik:

Products generally are not designed to last forever. And there are compromises. You want to buy a truck that won't rust? Me too! But I think you'd change your mind when you found out how much it would cost. The fact is that most of the time manufacturers are blamed as though they don't know how to do it any better, when in reality we usually do know how to do it better, but the compromises necessary to design a product that does the job and is also priced so that someone will buy it forces us to produce a product that may be less than perfect.

novaderrik wrote: did they predict that pretty much every truck that is driven daily- regardless of brand or initial purchase price- will need cab corners in 5 years and rocker panels in 7 years when driven by the average person in a state like MN?

Either you are exaggerating, or MN is much worse than MI from a corrosion standpoint, which I seriously doubt. 5-7 year old trucks around here might have a bit of surface rust, but there's no way they are "needing" cab corners or rockers in that amount of time. 10 years, maybe, but even that's a stretch. The P221 F-150s have been out since 2004 and I've NEVER seen one with the kind of rust you're describing.

Fact is, corrosion protection on all new cars is MUCH better than it was 20+ years ago.

Just to throw some water on this rust talk...

Aluminum doesn't rust. Rust is iron oxide. Aluminum corrodes, but in most circumstances it corrodes closed. The corrosion layer is so tough that it stops further corrosion. Further corrosion can occur, of course, in extreme circumstances, but I am betting that the aluminum F150 bodies will be more corrosion resistance than their steel counterparts.

And yes, car bodies have gotten much better at corrosion resistance overall.

My biggest concern with Aluminum is flexing. Aluminum needs to be rigid to maintain its strength. Flexing causes work hardening, cracking and failure. Also, in salty environments it will corrode remarkably quickly. I've installed aluminum louvers next to the ocean, and within a few years they'll disintegrate from the salt and moisture in the air. Granted, that's a lot thinner than a chasis, but that road salt's scary stuff.

In reply to kreb:

The chassis is still going to be steel, and Ford claims that the aluminum they are using is stronger than their steel bodies.
You know, its not like it's the first vehicle to ever have an aluminum body, although being the first pickup, there are some additional concerns you wouldn't have with something like an NSX. But my hunch is that while it may not be perfect, they aren't going to take a big risk on their highest selling vehicle, so I expect that most of the concerns voiced here not worth worrying about.

bravenrace wrote: In reply to kreb: The chassis is still going to be steel, and Ford claims that the aluminum they are using is stronger than their steel bodies. You know, its not like it's the first vehicle to ever have an aluminum body, although being the first pickup, there are some additional concerns you wouldn't have with something like an NSX. But my hunch is that while it may not be perfect, they aren't going to take a big risk on their highest selling vehicle, so I expect that most of the concerns voiced here not worth worrying about.

It's "military grade"!

Seriously, I'm not worried about it. Yes, aluminum has different corrosion properties than steel, but I'd bet dollars to donuts that it won't be any worse. Audi and Land Rover have been selling aluminum-bodied vehicles for years and years.

The one area I might be concerned about is repair costs and the associated insurance premiums, but that's about it.

In reply to kreb:

I'm sure Ford has the development $$$ to come up with a correct alloy or use an existing one.

Airplanes are aluminum.

Airplanes that don't flex fall out of the sky.

Tom_Spangler wrote: Either you are exaggerating, or MN is much worse than MI from a corrosion standpoint, which I seriously doubt. 5-7 year old trucks around here might have a bit of surface rust, but there's no way they are "needing" cab corners or rockers in that amount of time. 10 years, maybe, but even that's a stretch. The P221 F-150s have been out since 2004 and I've NEVER seen one with the kind of rust you're describing.

I'm in Minneapolis, and one of the kids living in the duplex next door has a late model F-150 with some pretty serious rust perforation in the cab corners and rocker panels. I'm not sure of the model year but it's less than 10 years old.

I will say this particular truck seems to be an exception to the rule. Cars and trucks still rust out here, but not nearly as bad as they used to.

In reply to stuart in mn:

There's very few 10+ year old trucks where I live that don't have rust. Although 13 years old, my Sierra is literally falling apart.

A 2001? in the salt belt? I'm surprised it's not rusted away completely.