The Gold Standard in Durability Testing
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The Gold Standard in Durability Testing
Extensive Vehicle Testing is what separates Ford from others.
Forbes Magazine - http://www.forbes.com/sites/kbrauer/...rance-testing/
Ford's 2015 F150: The Gold Standard in Durability Testing
Which brings me to the topic of today’s post — how is Ford testing the durability of its aluminum F150? The fascinating answer is that, beyond all the standard durability testing the company has used in the past, it’s added some real-world tests that included racing a stock, aluminum F150 in the 2013 Baja 1000 last fall and putting an aluminum-bed in six otherwise stock F150s back in 2011. Ford supplied these six F150 prototype trucks to real-world fleet customers, but didn’t tell them what specifically had been altered (the trucks’ exterior panels looked like a standard 2011 model). Two of the trucks went to a construction company in Pennsylvania, two to an energy company in North Carolina and two to a gold mine in Nevada.
All six aluminum beds have shown as much or more resistance to wear in these real-world conditions than previous steel versions. Ford even took a small group of journalists to the Barrick gold mine in Northern Nevada to witness the trucks in person and talk to the fleet customers driving them. I was part of the group and, after closely inspecting the beds, I confirmed the advantages one might expect from aluminum over steel. Not only did the beds show a strong resistance to dents or deformation, they also showed zero signs of rust or corrosion, even in the areas of the bed where the paint was scratched through to bare metal (a common occurrence for trucks in fleet use). Given the amount of salt and other corrosive materials at a gold mine site this is impressive, and an example of how the aluminum construction will provide a real-world benefit for end users.
I can understand this reaction to what is a massive leap forward in truck construction, but I also find it comical that anyone thinks Ford would actually roll the dice with its F150. Ford sells an F150 every 41 seconds, or around 60,000 a month and over 750,000 last year. And like all trucks the F150 is a high-profit model, which means an estimated $10,000-plus in profit on each of those 750,000 sales in 2013 (Ford has already sold 300,000 F150s in 2014). You do the math and tell me if it makes sense for Ford to risk its next F150 not living up to customer expectations
Forbes Magazine - http://www.forbes.com/sites/kbrauer/...rance-testing/
Ford's 2015 F150: The Gold Standard in Durability Testing
Which brings me to the topic of today’s post — how is Ford testing the durability of its aluminum F150? The fascinating answer is that, beyond all the standard durability testing the company has used in the past, it’s added some real-world tests that included racing a stock, aluminum F150 in the 2013 Baja 1000 last fall and putting an aluminum-bed in six otherwise stock F150s back in 2011. Ford supplied these six F150 prototype trucks to real-world fleet customers, but didn’t tell them what specifically had been altered (the trucks’ exterior panels looked like a standard 2011 model). Two of the trucks went to a construction company in Pennsylvania, two to an energy company in North Carolina and two to a gold mine in Nevada.
All six aluminum beds have shown as much or more resistance to wear in these real-world conditions than previous steel versions. Ford even took a small group of journalists to the Barrick gold mine in Northern Nevada to witness the trucks in person and talk to the fleet customers driving them. I was part of the group and, after closely inspecting the beds, I confirmed the advantages one might expect from aluminum over steel. Not only did the beds show a strong resistance to dents or deformation, they also showed zero signs of rust or corrosion, even in the areas of the bed where the paint was scratched through to bare metal (a common occurrence for trucks in fleet use). Given the amount of salt and other corrosive materials at a gold mine site this is impressive, and an example of how the aluminum construction will provide a real-world benefit for end users.
I can understand this reaction to what is a massive leap forward in truck construction, but I also find it comical that anyone thinks Ford would actually roll the dice with its F150. Ford sells an F150 every 41 seconds, or around 60,000 a month and over 750,000 last year. And like all trucks the F150 is a high-profit model, which means an estimated $10,000-plus in profit on each of those 750,000 sales in 2013 (Ford has already sold 300,000 F150s in 2014). You do the math and tell me if it makes sense for Ford to risk its next F150 not living up to customer expectations
