mdavis501

I presently own (almost own) a 2017 Platinum f-150. 18,000 miles. I love the truck. Lift up the seats and my bike fits in perfectly and I could go on and on about the great features.
From time to time I get these offers in the mail from Ford that say something like, trade in your 2017 and get a 2019. Your payments will go down by $66 and you can walk out the door with nothing out of pocket. I do note that that means 48 more months of payments albeit at 0% interest.

Why would I want to restart the clock on payments when I'm 14 months away from no payments? Well, there is this business of the Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB). I had a friend who was distracted while driving and had a very serious, nearly fatal accident. I think, in evaluation, this accident could have been avoided entirely with AEB. I saw the pain and turmoil this accident brought to his life and family and I think, for no money out of pocket, I could trade a great 2017 for an even better 2019. More importantly, a much safer truck. I already have the adaptive cruise control however I do note that the newer trucks will stop completely and restart. Mine won't completely stop, but to me that's not really a big deal. It's nice, but it's not really a safety feature as much as it is a convenience feature.

So, my question is -- for you guys/gals who have the 2019 with AEB, was it a factor in your decision to purchase? Would you have made the jump if you already had a 2017? For you guys/gals who are thinking about the 2019, is AEB a factor? Any factor at all? Is this safety feature worth re-starting the clock (but I also get to restart the odometer) ?

On the fence. Interested in hearing your responses.

moparado

All i'll say is i've been driving for 50+ years putting a lot of miles on my vehicles and never had AEB and apparently never needed it.
Maybe my years of motor cycle driving forced me to pay careful attention to situational awareness around my vehicle when driving.

Like;
don't take for granted green lights or stop signs without making sure the cross traffic stops,
look in the rear view mirror at every stop with plenty of room ahead to maneuver if the driver in the rear doesn't stop,
look into the other driver's eyes whether they're gonna turn or not at an intersection,
on and on.

Basically pay attention and assume all other drivers aren't.

skinnyb

If your 17 is the 5.0 and you are waning a 19 5.0 I would say keep the 17. The extra debt isnt worth the extra features. Plus the 17 with only 18,000 miles isn't even broken in good yet.

SHOOT1SAM

IMNTBHO, no, it is NOT worth restarting the clock, for a couple of reasons. 1st, you love your current truck & I read about guys who traded ‘up’ & wish they hadn’t. As skinnyb stated, yours really isn’t even broken in yet.

2nd, unless you have a crystal ball, there is absolutely NO way to say for certain that your friend would’ve been spared the pain & suffering from his accident, if only he’d had the AEB. I do not mean this in any sarcastic manner, but we’ve been driving safely, for the most part, for about 100 years, without Automatic Emergency Braking; no matter how tremendous the technology, human factors can still mess things up. I will pray for your friend’s continued recovery, but I don’t think you should base your decision on “what might have been avoided”.

blkZ28spt

I think I have to disagree that we have been "driving safely for about 100 years".

Literally hundred of thousands of Americans alone have died in auto accidents in that time. Currently, with the safest vehicles ever, over 100 people in the US die every day in auto accidents. Don't most of us know that, for most of us, the most dangerous thing we ever do is drive or ride in a vehicle on the road?

That's not safe.

That said, technology has dramatically helped. The average fatality rate per mile driven has been improving...significantly. All sorts of fancy new technologies have helped a great deal. Right now I'm imagining people talking down ABS the way some currently talk down AEB, and imagining that in the future it would be a bad joke to suggest that a modern mass produced "safe" vehicle not have it.

/random tangential rant



But, trade a 2017 that you really like to get a 2019 just for AEB? I think I'd pass. You've probably got something like 98% of the safety of the 2019 already built into your 2017, and 48 more months of payments is a lot. Wait until there is another, or additional, breakthroughs or leaps forward other than just the forward collision detection with AEB.

I mean, think about it, probably something else will surface in the next 4 years and if you pass now, you'll be in a better position to make the jump from your '17 into that.



*Wife and I did decide that if we spend less on a new truck this year than originally hoped (not a new Lariat), the used Lariat vs new XLT will favor new XLT and one of the significant factors under consideration is the standard AEB on all '19 F150s. Her car has forward collision detection, I've "used" it twice. Pretty sure the outcome was exactly the same as if I hadn't been using it, but sometimes in stupidly heavy traffic when trying to pay attention to tons of people doing tons of things in multiple lanes and looking to prepare to change lanes and suddenly the person two cars up that you can't see because the vehicle one up is blocking your view gets cut off and over reacts and slams on their brakes and the person in front of you then slams on their brakes out of nowhere int he middle of a 6 lane (one direction) interstate just as you were glancing at the lane over in your blind spot (and the lane over from that lane) to attempt to change lanes BEEP BEEP BEEP OH **** WHY ARE THEY LIKE STOPPING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE INTERSTATE

sholxgt

Here's something I don't know about Ford's system. Will it brake when you are telling it to accelerate?

A good friend found out that his Subaru will! He was passing on a two lane road when his Subaru decided the oncoming car was too close. It stopped the throttle and applied the brakes. Almost causing a huge accident at the same time. He did NOT need brakes, he needed throttle.

I've not owned my truck long enough to know all of it's quirks, but we've owned my wife's car long enough. She and I have each almost been rear ended while driving it. It decided we weren't stopping quickly enough so it clamped on the brakes harder. What it couldn't see is that we were trying to leave as much cushion as possible for the car behind us that was skidding to a stop.

So far, I am NOT a fan of the new technology. Until it can also control the cars around me, I'd rather be in my own destiny.

mdavis501

Your reasoning makes a lot of sense. Thank you for taking the time to reply.

mdavis501

That was a nice way to put it. Thank you for your positive comments.
Mike

A/Ox4

iTrader: (1)

AEB, like all self driving features should be considered SUPPLEMENTAL. There are different levels of autonomy in self driving cars. Ford's systems classify them as Level 2 autonomy, a far cry away from level 6 full automation.

I know you don't intend to use these features as a crutch, however there has been evidence that between Level 1 and 6 there is increased risk of drivers becoming reliant on the technologies and begin to divert their attention, especially at levels 3 and 4.

Personally, it's not worth it to me.

SCrewYou

No, it's not worth the upgrade. Most vehicles on the road, including most F-150s, do not have auto braking and people seem to get along just fine.