2015 Ford Motor Company F-150 Truck Gets Five Star Safety Rating
The new aluminum F-150 keeps on reaching new highs, as it earns the US government's top safety rating
The government safety regulators conducted crash tests and it proved to be a hard nut to crack, beating all other steel body vehicles. Ford’s previous model, which was made from steel, was able to bag four stars.
Mlive.com quoted Ford Motor's Vice President, Raj Nair as saying: “The 2015 model is engineered to be the safest F-150 ever, which matters to customers who depend on this truck to not only get the job done, but also get them safely home.”
The 2015 F-150 has done wonders for the Blue Oval, and bagged several titles since it was launched in December 2014. The aluminum pick-up truck was crowned the 2015 Truck of the Year earlier in January. Since then, the vehicle has been considered as a golden hen for the automaker, as it only spends an average of 18 days at dealership lots before getting sold. Such a low showroom time is impressive, as an average pick-up truck takes more than 80 days at the showroom before finding its owner. This also highlights how much the truck is in demand among customers.
The timing for the vehicle launch worked for the automaker, as it was launched when the gasoline prices hit an all-time low during the last few months. Furthermore, the vehicle also proved to be a performance monster after it passed the retooling process. The all-new F-150 was revamped with an aluminum body, shedding 7,000 pounds in weight and reaching the towing capacity to 12,200 pounds. The military-grade aluminum transition also made the automaker fuel efficient.
The automaker is currently trying to meet up with rising demand of new F-150 and for that, the Kansas City Assembly Plant recently completed its retooling phase to boost production. Currently, Ford’s Kansas city and Dearborn plants are responsible for the production of Ford’s brainchild, which is expected to roll out more than 700,000 pick-up trucks every year. In the media report, the automaker announced that the new F-150 is equipped with 31 added safety-features, which aided the vehicle to impress NHTSA crash-test examiners. The vehicle has advanced restraint system which includes dual-stage airbags and side inflators, which pumps up in case of a crash. The vehicle is also equipped with a curve control feature, which slows down the speed of the truck if it senses that the vehicle is going too fast on turnings. The vehicle also would have optional inflatable safety belts at its rear seats.
Additionally, the vehicle will have smart technology, such as semi-autonomous driving features. It will also assist drivers with collision warning and automatic front braking. Other features include anti-lock disc brakes, blind-spot, and lane-keeping system. In case of a crash, the sync system would allow the vehicle to automatically call for the emergency through a paired cell phone. The 2015 F-150 was competing against other big names in pick-up trucks, such as, General Motors Company’s (NYSE:GM) Chevrolet Silverado, Toyota Tundra, Ram 1500, and Nissan Titan. But all failed to pull down the America’s best-selling pick-up truck. F-150 has been the top-selling truck model for continuous 38 years in North America.
Ford Motor's stock was trading at $15.94, down 0.81% at the closing bell on Thursday. Since the start of the year, the stock has surged 2.84%, outperforming the S&P 500 Index’s gain of 1.56% over the same period.
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