Update: We have updated the article to include comment from Ford below.
From the outset, quite a few folks have questioned the durability of the 2015 Ford F-150’s aluminum body. That was obviously something we wanted to ask folks in our industry about to which they replied with the exact opposite response. The construction professionals we talked to said years of experience with aluminum dump truck bodies had long reassured them of the metal’s toughness. Rather, they were more worried that when the new F-150 does get a pretty good ding, that it would cost more to repair.
The folks at Edmunds took a more direct approach to answering these questions. As soon as they could, they slapped down $52,000 for a new F-150…and then took a sledgehammer to it. And not just any part of the truck, one they knew would prove especially tricky to repair. And if we’re being honest, one that has a pretty good chance of taking a hit both on the jobsite and in a parking lot.
“After much thought we chose to smash the bed side because it would need to be repaired, as opposed to a dented door, fender or hood, which could simply be replaced,” reads one of the posts chronicling the website’s findings. Watch the sledgehammer carnage below.
As you can see in the video, after two hits, the truck comes away from the ordeal with some tennis ball-sized dents and pretty serious creasing in the panel around the dents. It will definitely need replacing. And when the Edmunds folks took it to their Ford repair shop they were told that while they had the training to do the repair, it “would be much harder to fix than steel,” because it “required special tools and would take extra time.”
