More F-150 Pickups to Get Stop-Start Engine Technology

Ford Motor Co. plans to expand the use of automatic stop-start systems on its 2017-model F-150 fullsize pickup trucks to vehicles equipped with a turbocharged 3.5-liter Ecoboost V-6 engine.

The feature, which turns off the engine when a vehicle is stopped, already is standard on F-150 trucks powered by a 2.7-liter Ecoboost V-6. The technology can increase fuel economy by as much as 7% during city driving.

The 2016 F-150 with a 3.5-liter engine has an Environmental Protection Agency fuel economy rating of 19 mpg in the city and 26 mpg on the highway. EPA ratings don’t take into account stop-start systems.

For the F-150 applications, Ford says the stop-start system is specially tuned for trucks and will not shut off the engine during towing or when the vehicle is operating in 4-wheel-drive mode.

With the addition of the 3.5-liter application, more than 60% of F-150 trucks are expected to be equipped with a stop-start system. Ford also is standardizing the use of stop-start systems on 2017 Escape crossover vehicles with EcoBoost engines, which account for about 90% of the model’s volume.

The company already pairs the technology with its 1.0-, 1.5- and 2.0-liter EcoBoost engines available in the Edge crossover and Focus and Fusion cars.