The new all-aluminum 2015 Ford F-150 pickup truck has been an early hit, building on what was already a perennial best-seller for decades.
But with that aluminum structure came the question: How will it perform in crash tests? Aluminum is significantly lighter than steel, and requires considerable engineering effort in order to achieve the equivalent safety ratings as steel, but Ford seems to have made it work. The company just announced that the 2015 F-150 SuperCrew (that’s the four-door in normal English) has earned a five-star overall safety rating in crash tests conducted recently by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The company is still awaiting word on NHTSA testing of other versions of the F-Series pickup, as well as results from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s battery of tests.
This isn’t the first time the F-150 has won a five-star award from NHTSA, but it is the first time under the newer, more stringent round of tests the organization is using. The F-150 scored five stars in all of the dynamic tests, including front and side crashes for driver and passenger. It scored four stars in the static rollover test.
More Top Picks Best Portable Saunas
The 2015 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 also has five-star overall ratings in the same tests and four stars in the rollover. The 2015 Ram 1500 has a four-star overall rating with some different versions garnering three- and four-star rollover scores.