Just picked up my 2013 F150 5.0 and am embarrassed to say I didn't notice the large rectangular hole in the lower center of the front bumper.
When I got home and looked it over again I thought a piece of the trim was missing from the front bumper. There were plastic clips near the corners for something at one time.
Went online to look at pics of 2013's and behold they all are open cept for a few with a grill.
What is the reason for that design? It appears debris could easily get caught in there. Do most put a grill in? Behind it is a synthetic flexible air deflector but don't really see the purpose.
Also along the sides of the deflector are/were synthetic pieces of material that seemed to seal the open ends of the main deflector. These are missing on the pax left side and torn on the drivers side. Are they important enough that I should replace them?
Thanks for any advive,
Tom

 

With a 5.0 it had a license plate holder in it.

Mine with the Plate Holder

Mine with Boost Bars Lower Grille.

Ecoboost Front

 

This may interest you.
https://www.f150forum.com/f38/under-...ur-own-426386/

 

Excellent article, thank you very much.
I have seen them available when Goggling the problem.

 

What I did with that space.


Rough Country hidden winch mount and a Badlands 12k winch. Fills the void looks good and is very functional.

 

Their purpose - cooling ... To funnel / direct the air to the radiator (and if present, the transmisson cooler).

*May (?) also affect, albeit minimally, aerodynamics and/or MPG.
.

 

They also protect from getting water into the engine compartment. I know this because my driver side has completely torn off and spray gets in there far easier. I really need to finish that repair, I have all the stuff laying around.

 

Both of my side air dams are missing and I had not planned on replacing them till you mentioned the water issue. That makes good sense to replace them.

 

Mine were both all torn up. Got some rubber sheeting and made new ones using the old ones as a template.