Ford uses high-strength aluminum alloys in all-new 2015 F-150
(January 13, 2014) DETROIT — Ford says that the all-new Ford F-150 brings a new meaning to Built Ford Tough, with cutting-edge materials and an industry-first frame design, making the truck tougher and more efficient than ever.
Starting with the signature fully boxed frame, Ford engineers increased the use of high-strength 70,000-psi steel — from 23 percent to 77 percent of the frame — to improve stiffness and durability while reducing weight. The new frame is up to 60 pounds lighter than the current frame.
“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.”
But the big news for the F-150 is that Ford for the first time used high-strength, aluminum alloys, already used in aerospace, commercial transportation, energy and many other rugged industries, throughout the F-150 body, improving dent and ding resistance, and also saving weight. Overall, up to 700 pounds of weight have been saved, helping the F-150 tow more, haul more, accelerate quicker and stop shorter. This contributes to efficiency, Ford says.
Ford engineers selected these high-strength, military-grade, aluminum alloys because of the metals’ unique ability to withstand tough customer demands.
“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 aluminum that met our high performance standards in all of our tests, while allowing us to trim hundreds of pounds from the truck.”
These materials were torture-tested to Built Ford Tough standards and exceed expectation.
The reduced weight of the high-strength, military-grade, aluminum alloys enables the F-150 to tow and haul more than ever while also improving acceleration, braking and handling performance. Adding to these benefits, aluminum alloys will not rust and are resistant to corrosion, helping enhance vehicle life.
Ford says the all-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 all-new F-150 endured salt sprays and acidified sprays to test for corrosion. Before production begins, it will have crisscrossed the country pulling trailers and hauling loads through deserts and over mountain passes in temperatures from 20 degrees below zero to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Even its components were battered by lab technicians to simulate miles of abuse.
“The testing has been fantastic from a durability perspective,” Frantzeskakis said. “The aluminum box exceeded our expectations in a lot of areas.”Particular attention was paid to the new body panels and how they are fastened to the frame. One test simulated six years of use in six weeks. After a complete teardown and inspection, the team developed new ways to prevent scratching the e-coat corrosion protection on the frame and eliminated spots where water could settle.
A disguised all-new F-150 was further tested in one of the world’s toughest off-road races, the 2013 Baja 1000.
Ford Racing teamed up with Foutz Motorsports and entered an all-new F-150 disguised as a 2014 model year truck. Body panels were made of the new high-strength, military-grade, aluminum alloys atop the new tougher frame. Under the hood was the new 2.7-liter EcoBoost engine. With the exception of racing shocks, springs with different rates and a 44-gallon fuel tank, all of the mechanicals were stock as specified for the all-new truck.
The automatic transmission had already been used in testing, but it was further tested in the Baja 1000. No extra oil or transmission coolers were added. Over the course of the 883-mile race, the only maintenance required was changing the stock air filter at every fuel stop. The truck performed flawlessly and did not even suffer a flat tire.
In addition to the Baja event and testing in the laboratory and at the track, F-150 engineers put a small fleet of the new beds into service with some of Ford’s most demanding customers. Six F-150 trucks with high-strength, military-grade, aluminum-alloy cargo boxes were placed with a mining company, an energy utility and a construction firm to monitor performance.
The customers were told to drive and treat the trucks as they normally would in their daily working routines, but they were not told what parts of the trucks may have been different. After two years and more than 300,000 miles of abuse, teardowns and inspections resulted in new engineering tests and design changes to ensure the production box would be ready to handle customers’ demands.
“F-150 is tested to extremes because truck buyers want the best equipment to do the toughest work and perform under the toughest conditions,” said Frantzeskakis. “Severe testing that goes beyond customer expectations and thorough analysis of those results is how Ford makes F-150 the No. 1 truck.”
Improving capability, comfort and convenience
Ford’s all-new F-150 improves capability, comfort and convenience with more than a dozen smart new technologies for owners of America’s most popular truck. Many of these features are appearing for the first time ever on a pickup truck.
“For F-150, the impressive lineup of tech-savvy features is all about maximizing productivity at work and play,” said Pete Reyes, Ford F-150 chief engineer. “Every new technology and feature we added to the vehicle is aimed at helping our customers do more with their trucks.”
F-150 provides drivers extra visibility with a new 360-degree camera system. The system – the first of its kind for pickups – provides a view of all four sides of the vehicle, making it easier to navigate into parking spaces or around tight corners. Images from cameras mounted in the grille, tailgate and under each sideview mirror are stitched together to provide the driver with an overhead bird’s-eye view, and visibility of as much as seven feet of surrounding space.
Visibility also is enhanced by energy-efficient LED lighting throughout the interior and exterior of the new F-150, providing brighter, whiter light and better durability than older incandescent lamps.
F-150 drivers will appreciate segment-first LED headlamps. These lamps provide a better quality of light that is more representative of daylight colors, plus they consume less energy than traditional headlamp technology and are designed to last the lifetime of the truck.
The new F-150 also features forward-facing LED spotlights on the sideview mirrors, and LED cargo box interior lighting for excellent visibility in the truck bed at night or when a bed cover or cap is used.
“We know that work keeps going when the sun sets,” said Reyes. “The new F-150’s exceptional lighting technologies can help light work sites well into the night.”
Ford is introducing a suite of smart driver-assist technologies on a pickup for the first time, including lane-keeping assist, adaptive cruise control and a collision mitigation system.
Lane-keeping assist uses the truck’s front camera system to monitor lane markings, and can alert the driver if the vehicle drifts out of its lane – even providing steering torque to pull it back into the center of the lane if needed. Adaptive cruise control uses onboard radar to automatically slow the truck down when cruise control is engaged and the truck is approaching slowed traffic. The system automatically resumes the previous speed once the slowdown is gone.
The collision mitigation system also uses the truck’s onboard front radar to alert the driver if the truck detects a possible collision. The system can pre-engage the brakes to help the driver slow the truck even more quickly.
Ford’s Blind Spot Information System (BLIS®) with cross-traffic alert is a driver-assist feature that helps detect vehicles in blind spots during normal driving and traffic approaching from the sides when reversing out of parking spots.
The all-new F-150’s cargo box receives significant upgrades to make it more versatile and driver-friendly. In addition to the LED box lights, the new F-150 offers remote lock/unlock of the tailgate, along with a feature that is new for pickup trucks – a tailgate that automatically lowers itself with the push of a button on the key fob to help customers when their hands are full.
Ford’s pioneering tailgate step has been redesigned to be fully integrated into the tailgate and virtually invisible when not in use. To use the step, simply drop the tailgate into the down position, grab the bottom step, pull it straight out from the tailgate, and drop it down into the step position – all in one easy motion. The grab handle is now housed inside the tailgate, keeping the inner surface of the tailgate uniformly flat.
F-150 also features the new BoxLink system, with stowable cargo ramps and lockable die-cast aluminum tie-down cleats customers can configure in dozens of ways. These segment-first cargo ramps can be mounted quickly on the tailgate to enable easy loading of ATVs, motorcycles or mowers.
F-150 SuperCab is now easier to load and unload, thanks to a flat load floor and rear doors that open almost 180 degrees – ideal for placing cargo in the vehicle when in tight spaces such as parking lots and garages.