Mythbusters got it wrong!
Member
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 82
Likes: 4
From: G-Ville, NV
Originally Posted by XtraLargeTall
This^
There was a video on 09+ F150 aerodynamics and they talked about things just like this purposefully designed to be aerodynamic. That's what the lip on the top of the tailgate is for too.
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 1,849
Likes: 386
850, So right and he doesn't even know it. 
http://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/eng/news/nrc/2007/05/07/tailgate-down-myth.html
Unbiased wind tunnel testing of the last body style F150 by our friends to the north (see they dont spend all of their time at Tim Hortons and harvesting maple syrup) found the shorter the bed the worse the mileage when the tailgate is left down and ALL pickups lost fuel economy with the tailgate down. Also mesh tailgates were WORSE than even leaving the tailgate down for creating air disturbance and drag.
http://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/eng/news/nrc/2007/05/07/tailgate-down-myth.html
Unbiased wind tunnel testing of the last body style F150 by our friends to the north (see they dont spend all of their time at Tim Hortons and harvesting maple syrup) found the shorter the bed the worse the mileage when the tailgate is left down and ALL pickups lost fuel economy with the tailgate down. Also mesh tailgates were WORSE than even leaving the tailgate down for creating air disturbance and drag.
Originally Posted by VolFire
850, So right and he doesn't even know it.
http://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/eng/news/n...down-myth.html
Unbiased wind tunnel testing of the last body style F150 by our friends to the north (see they dont spend all of their time at Tim Hortons and harvesting maple syrup) found the shorter the bed the worse the mileage when the tailgate is left down and ALL pickups lost fuel economy with the tailgate down. Also mesh tailgates were WORSE than even leaving the tailgate down for creating air disturbance and drag.
http://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/eng/news/n...down-myth.html
Unbiased wind tunnel testing of the last body style F150 by our friends to the north (see they dont spend all of their time at Tim Hortons and harvesting maple syrup) found the shorter the bed the worse the mileage when the tailgate is left down and ALL pickups lost fuel economy with the tailgate down. Also mesh tailgates were WORSE than even leaving the tailgate down for creating air disturbance and drag.
I would say that mythbusters methodology is usually quite flawed. They quite often do not account for all the variables and have small sample sizes. This is not surprising given that they have no scientific training. I will however applauded them for promoting science and critical thinking.
Meaner than ymeski56
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 28,489
Likes: 459
From: Fort Morgan, Colorado
They also don't have huge budgets to do full blown experiments. They do the best they can with what they've got and I trust em most of the time unless I really see where they messed up. But I digress
So...as the title implies, are they wrong, based on all the other people that saw the same episode I saw... and everyone else that posted similar evidence of tailgate up being more efficient?
Senior Member
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 1,261
Likes: 13
From: Wisconsin
And to the OP, your truck was new those first two weeks... now it's broken in and gets better mileage. Your experiment is not perfect either. Try with the tailgate up, maybe you'll get 19mpg.
