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Issue link: https://adp.epubxp.com/i/301356
31 p Lost in the hype surrounding the F-150's aluminum-intensive body is the fact that its frame remains steel. Ford says the ultra- high-strength steel frame will improve both the 2015 F-150's towing and payload capacities. t The announcement that America's best- selling pickup would be switching from steel to aluminum for the body structure caught everyone's attention, and immediately placed Ford apart from its competition. Is the shift, however, based more on PR advantage than need? After years of watching aluminum win smaller skirmishes with low-volume, high-end vehicles switching to the non-ferrous alloy, steel took a direct hit. At this year's North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Ford revealed an aluminum-bodied F-150. It wasn't a concept. It was the real deal, and it sent a very loud and clear message. From the 2015 model year, every F-150 will roll on a steel frame, but the body structure above it will be aluminum. The announcement reverberated like thunder. This is no low-volume vehicle, but the best- selling vehicle in America. On average, Ford sells nearly 800,000 F-Series annually. (Ford doesn't break out specifc models like the F-150, but a good rule of thumb is that it accounts for about two-thirds, or 534,000 units, of Ford's F-Series sales volume.) On the face of it, this was a big hit for steel. Ford's announcement was followed by rumors coming out of GM weeks later that its next-generation pickups would have an alloy body architecture of its own. Only Chrysler, which continues to question the costs and benefts involved with the materials switch, has publicly stated it will stay with steel for the Ram pickup. "We've had incursions like this before," says Ron Krupitzer, vice president, Automotive Market, Steel Market Development Institute (SMDI; autosteel.org ), "though in the past it was compo- sites and plastics with vehicles like the Pontiac Fiero, Saturn and GM's APV minivans." As Krupitzer points out, GM's hopes for improved quality and cost didn't pan out. "There was too much given up for the economies they thought they were going to gain." Could the same be true of Ford's shift to aluminum? "Certainly it has caught our attention," Krupitzer admits, "but, to be honest, we're a little puzzled. With the weight reduction achievable with high-strength steel— which is very, very close to aluminum in many cases—the ultimate diference in weight and fuel saved in the real world is fairly small." According to SMDI's calculations, simply reducing the weight of a part on a vehicle by 10% brings a 3% reduction in fuel consumption. "That's a tank or two of fuel over the life of most full-size vehicles," says Krupitzer. However, starting from a clean sheet, and sizing the powertrain to give you exactly the same payload and acceleration that you had in the heavier version brings the fuel economy improvement up to 7%. That's a pretty good return, and one Ford must have considered with the F-150, which will feature a downsized and optimized 2.7-liter EcoBoost V6 as one of its engines. Doesn't this justify Ford's move from metal, especially when the average weight save seen by OEMs from steel historically has been in the 3% to 4% range? Not if the structure is optimized for steel. David Anderson, Automotive Technical Panel, Long Products Program, SMDI, cites the Cadillac ATS, which he describes as "the most optimized steel- bodied vehicle currently in production." It has a curb weight as low as 3,319 lb., which makes it 0514ADP FEATURE Steel.indd 31 4/22/2014 1:32:29 PM