F-150 safety

Hi, all,

Just wanted to pass along a quick F-150 endorsement regarding safety.

Recently my parents were in a head-on smash at highway speed. A car came across the median from the opposite direction, into their lane of travel, and struck them almost perfectly straight-on.

With many years of EMS experience I have more than a nodding acquaintance with how these things usually turn out.

However, they were both restrained and the airbags deployed. They were hurt, but beyond even the completely mind-boggling fact that they weren't killed on impact, they only spent the night in the ER and were sent home the next morning .

I got a look at the truck a couple of days later at the salvage yard. Again, running a few MVA calls in a career you get some experience sizing-up wreckage of this sort. The vehicle, as you may have guessed, was totaled. But, I have to say, from the front wheels back, save for some minor wrinkling in the front doors, you'd never know the extent of the damage in the front of the truck. Both front doors, (with a bit of snap, crackle, and pop) still opened.

From the front wheels *forward*, however, was quite a different story. The nose was dramatically caved in, and the engine mounts had, as designed, given way. The engine compartment looked like it had been picked up and shaken around. Which, come to think of it, I guess it had.

The interior was even more amazing than the exterior. The airbags were deployed and the contents were tossed around, but, again, there was very little other evidence of such a high-index collision. The glass, dashboard, and steering column were all intact. There was no impingement into the passenger compartment that I could see.

So, my point is simply this: a big, huge pat on the back to Ford and their engineers. That truck was definitely one F-150 that lived up to the safety hype. I would, of course, never wish such a thing on any of you folks. I do hope, however, that if any of you of your loved ones are unfortunate enough to experience such a horrific event, they're driving a vehicle as sturdy as that F-150 was.

Reply to
StreetMedic
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What year was the truck? I have a 2003 and have seen barrier crash test videos that did not please me - very poor performance compared to Chev and Toyota. However, I've heard that the 2004 changes have improved the F-150's crash results considerably.

Keith

Reply to
Keith

Interesting. Well, as a matter of fact, it *was* an '04. A 2004 SuperCrew, to be exact.

Reply to
StreetMedic

I do collision reconstruction for a living. Believe me I know what the difference between a well-constructed (ie performs well in barrier crash tests)and a poorly designed vehicle can do. It amazes me that so many people still don't buckle up. Airbags are only usefully if you're held back by the belt.

Off-topic - I was sent this link about a crash test with a SmartCar - something I thought wouldn't stand a chance in a real-world highway crash. Maybe I was wrong. It's incredible what engineering can do.

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Glad your family came out of this OK

Keith

Reply to
Keith

Keith, as someone that does collision work, would you say that a head on impact like the OP describes does less damage to the cabin area than a corner hit? I'm not arguing about the strength of the 150; only saying that they were luckier that it was hit squarely.

Reply to
Al Bundy

Depends on what you mean by "corner hit".

Head-ons are usually more violent than angular but full-frontal collisions (across the full front of the vehicle - like left headlamp to right headlamp) because nearly all of the energy is transferred directly into the vehicle, and subsequently to the occupant compartment. In angular impacts, some of the energy is used in moving the vehicle to the side and possibly even in sliding away from another. Energy cannot be destroyed. Therefore if its not taken up in sliding/spinning, etc, it all goes to crunching (energy transferred to heat and noise energy are negligible).

Offset collisions, like left headlamp to left headlamp can be more violent, especially for left-side passengers (in this scenario), as the energy is being transferred over a narrower width of the vehicle. You have less of the front of the car to absorb the energy and subsequently its possible you may experience more intrusion into the occupant compartment.

Of course, there are so many factors at play - vehicle masses and heights, and angles at impact in particular - that this is all very much a generalization.

Keith

Reply to
Keith

"StreetMedic" snipped-for-privacy@comcast.net wrote in message news:CeCdnSJK2aAZIh7enZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com...

I'm happy to hear your parents did so well. Unfortunately this is a very sad topic in general.

There are literally 2 sides to every story. While I'm happy to hear it sounds like your parents were not at fault in any way, (which endorses some kind of karma because they were unhurt), you didn't say what happened to the occupants of the other vehicle. In most such crashes, the car occupants do all the dying. Fact is, the truck is built on heavy rails that don't like to bend or buckle. As well, if it has 4wd, it sets them up high enough to avoid the hard parts of most other vehicles. If the 4wd hits a car, the truck will essentially kick the car the other way and do all damage at head-high. Those occupants are usually killed by blunt head trauma (regardless of the airbags). One persons dick extension on float tires becomes the next guys' guillotine. So while it 'worked' for one side, it was a very damaging collision that would have been much less horrifying if it was simply two cars. As well, if your parents had hit something solid, they would not be so fortunate. The F-150s (especially from the mid-90s and earlier) do poorly when striking poles, trees, abutments, etc. The apparent 'protection' of the cabin and frame basically convert the truck itself into solid wall for the occupants to smack into. A medium sized car protects the occupants much better. Not to mention how often the 4wds pop overtop of guardrails and land in rivers/lakes/gulleys/cliffs, and how the cabins tend to crush in a rollover accident. The 2004s aren't as bad as most on the road, and they're better than the old ones, but they still lag the bulk of the nation's motorpool. So I'll argue their 'safety engineering' only exists because they're forced to by federal regulators. Otherwise, Ford (or GM or anyone) would be selling

5000lb 1/2tons with harvesting blades on the front grill. I don't believe F150s are unsafe, rather, that they are very incompatible with other vehicles.

Dave

Reply to
David Geesaman

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