The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is reportedly planning to crash test all body styles of the new Ford F-150.
The organization would typically only test the SuperCrew variant, which accounts for a solid majority of sales, however Automotive News claims the SuperCrew package is the only new F-150 that integrates certain structural reinforcements that appear to be optimized for the challenging small-overlap test.
“We optimize each cab structure based on many factors including cab style, mass, wheelbase, powertrain and driveline to meet regulatory requirements and achieve public domain ratings,” Ford said in a statement.
The SuperCrew is the heaviest package, weighing in at 4,471 lbs for the 4×2 configuration. The SuperCab is 100 lbs lighter, while the regular-cab version weighs just 4,050 lbs. The lighter configurations reportedly lack extra steel bars welded to the frame, preventing the front wheel from entering the cabin in the small-overlap scenario.
The new F-150 received five-star crash ratings from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for every body style, however the federal agency does not replicate the small-overlap test.
The IIHS will destroy a regular-cab and a SuperCab F-150 to determine if the lack of additional structural reinforcements affects performance in the small-overlap test.
The organization is said to be taking a closer look at certain other vehicles, suspecting that some automakers are effectively cheating by reinforcing only the left side of the vehicle, which is traditionally the only side to be smashed into the small-overlap barrier.
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