Ford F-150 Super Cab Scores Poorly in IIHS Safety Test

Ford Motor Co.'s high-volume F-150 Super Crew pickup truck earned a "top safety pick" rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety earlier this year. But the 2015 model Super Cab variant garnered only a "marginal" rating in the institute's severe "small-overlap" crash test.

The difference, according to IIHS, is the lack of "wheel blockers" in the latter model. The blocker bars are welded to the frame and jut out fore and aft of the Super Crew's front wheel wells. In a frontal crash, they deflect the front wheels out and away from the passenger compartment.

IIHS tested the Super Cab after Automotive News pointed out the lack of block bars in that model. The Super Cab earned "good" IIHS ratings for roof strength, side impact and moderate frontal impact. But without wheel blockers, the Super Cab incurred significant damage in IIHS's small-overlap crash, in which only 25% of a vehicle's front crash structure must absorb all the energy of an impact at 40 mph.

The institute says the truck's foot pedals were pushed as much as 13 inches toward the driver. The steering column moved nearly 8 inches toward the driver's chest. And the crash dummy's head glanced off the front airbag and hit the instrument panel.

By comparison, the F-150 Super Crew's passenger compartment remained intact during the test, and the crash test dummy indicated a low-probability of injury. Ford says it will install unspecified improvements in the Super Cab and other variants that currently lack the wheel blockers.

IIHS notes separately that the F-150's aluminum body fared well in tests of both versions of the truck. But the institute says it took longer and cost 26% more to repair the new F-150 compared with the previous steel-bodied models.

Ford points to independent consultants who say the average repair costs for the aluminum F-150 are less than they are for its steel-based predecessor. The company also maintains the new truck is the safest F-150 ever, noting that all three versions of the truck received the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's highest five-star safety rating earlier this year. The NHTSA tests don't include a crash similar to IIHS's small-overlap test.