(April 17, 2015) DEARBORN, Mich. — The 2015 aluminum-bodied Ford F-150 has earned a better government crash-test rating than its all-steel predecessor, putting to rest any concerns that the lighter material would result in a weaker pickup and eliminating one of the Chevrolet Silverado’s advantages.

The F-150 SuperCrew has been awarded the government’s highest possible crash safety rating thanks to 31 new safety-related innovations developed by the Ford truck team, earning a five-star Overall Vehicle Score in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s New Car Assessment Program.

“The five-star safety rating is a terrific example of One Ford collaboration and innovation,” said Raj Nair, Ford group vice president, Global Product Development.

“Our truck team worked together for years to deliver this accomplishment, using an unprecedented combination of advanced materials throughout the all-new F-150. The 2015 model is engineered to be the safest F-150 ever, which matters to customers who depend on this truck to not only get the job done, but also get them safely home.”

The F-150 SuperCrew, which accounts for more than 70 percent of F-150 sales, now has the same ratings in each category as the Silverado and one more star than the Ram 1500. Regulators have not released ratings for other versions of the F-150, but Ford officials said they are expected soon.

F-150’s improved performance is enabled by up to a 700-pound weight savings through the use of high-strength steel in the frame; high-strength, military-grade, aluminum alloy in the body; and smart engineering.

A cross-functional group comprised of Ford truck product development veterans and researchers worked to precisely optimize vehicle weight savings and manufacturing design to deliver improved durability, capability, fuel economy and crashworthiness. The team created and patented new structures, materials and joining methods that were tested virtually with supercomputer simulations, then retested in Ford’s advanced laboratories to engineer the safest F-150 ever.

Ford said the F-150 team started engineering the truck with supercomputers before the first units were ever even crash-tested in a lab. Engineers developed digital safety models with nearly 1.4 million separate elements to examine how even the smallest parts of the truck would perform in a crash situation.



Safety starts with the truck’s signature, fully boxed frame — the backbone of the all-new F-150. Engineers added an extra crossmember and increased the use of high-strength steel to improve stiffness, durability and safety — while also helping reduce the frame’s weight by up to 60 pounds.

“The team had to invent new ways to manage crash energy, because advanced materials like high-strength steel behave differently,” said Matt Niesluchowski, Ford truck safety manager. “We found that changing certain shapes led to a weight reduction, while also improving crash performance.”

Safety engineers developed a patented 12-corner front crush horn to dissipate more energy in a front impact. The uniquely shaped structure helps manage crash forces so the frame buckles predictably to keep those forces away from occupants in the cabin. This is just one of the 31 new safety-related innovations the team developed to make the truck safer in the event of a crash.

Ford’s advanced research and safety teams worked together to engineer F-150’s high-strength, military-grade, aluminum-alloy body structure to manage what happens to the body in the event of a crash.

The truck’s cab features hydroformed roof rails that constitute a cage-like structure around the doors, extruded roof bows to provide lateral strength across the top of the cab, and extruded rocker rails near the bottom to reinforce lower body strength.

How various parts of the truck were joined also yielded safety improvements. In many cases, welding was not the most effective way to join parts, so the team developed and patented methods to connect parts using high-strength adhesives. This resulted in structural strength equal to or greater than traditional welds.

Sources: Ford Motor Company, Automotive News