I guess this means we will not see anymore of the crane dropping a pallet of bricks into the bed of the truck anymore. and when the driver clips a tree/bollard or other object in the course of his daily work, there will be $1500 body work required.

if you favor this, thank the government for their stupid car standards

EnviroDude: I guess this means we will not see anymore of the crane dropping a pallet of bricks into the bed of the truck anymore. and when the driver clips a tree/bollard or other object in the course of his daily work, there will be $1500 body work required.

if you favor this, thank the government for their stupid car standards

This is probably why they don't make other parts intended for high impact and long wear life out of aluminum, like wheel rims or engine pistons.

Oh Lord. Seriously, a lot of you have no idea what this is going to do to those of us in the Midwest.

This is basically like if someone decided they should make a Star Trek sitcom. The Star Wars fans would be dancing with gleeful schadenfreude, the Trek fans would fracture between those who valiantly try to defend it and those who either disown the franchise or pretend it never happened, Doctor Who fans would be sniping from the treeline, etc.

There will be fist-fights at Thanksgiving over this.

EnviroDude: I guess this means we will not see anymore of the crane dropping a pallet of bricks into the bed of the truck anymore. and when the driver clips a tree/bollard or other object in the course of his daily work, there will be $1500 body work required.

if you favor this, thank the government for their stupid car standards

The US government is merely pointing out that less fuel efficient cars/trucks do more damage to the environment ('owned' by the government and the rest of us) and is asking that manufacturers take steps to not damage it. Ford is doing that by making their trucks lighter. They could have done many things, but this was their solution as it is more than likely the one that is most cost effective. If it turns out the market hates 'aluminum F-150s' (they're still going to be 40%+ steel) I'm sure they'll work out something with regulators while they find ways to make the steel frame ones more fuel efficient. The F-150 makes huge amounts of money for Ford. Uncle Sam isn't sitting behind closed doors trying to figure out ways to crush the truck and force everyone to drive Fiat Pandas

When companies are dumping sludge into rivers and the EPA says 'hey don't do that it's damaging our stuff' it's not the government's fault they're taking steps to protect their/our property, it's the fault of the company who enacted that as a business plan in the first place. Obviously an individual's car/truck is less damaging than river sludge, but it adds up.

Just think of the hilarity when some dude in an all-aluminum F150 rolls up to a traffic light that never changes...

Welcome to my world, biatch!

/R6 = all aluminum and plastic
//nothing like having to hit the pedestrian crossing button...

EnviroDude: I guess this means we will not see anymore of the crane dropping a pallet of bricks into the bed of the truck anymore. and when the driver clips a tree/bollard or other object in the course of his daily work, there will be $1500 body work required.

if you favor this, thank the government for their stupid car standards

Government efficiency standards make cars less safe! If you took something like a '09 Chevy Malibu and ran it headfirst into a tank-like '59 Bel Air, the driver of the malibu would be obliterated. And if you don't believe me, just watch this video!

Oh wait, the Malibu test dummy just bounces fairly lightly off the airbag while the Bel Air ends up like m1ke's drink can.

jvl: Oh good! I've always wanted a vehicle whose metal body can catch fire.

Well, only if it wasn't painted or coated with something. And you then poured lye on it. And added water. And an open flame.

But on the other hand, you'll also have much less worry about de-icing salt rusting out your frame.

I actually used to drive an all aluminum car (2001 Insight). It was loaded with really pretty aluminum welds. Mostly done by hand. Audi has had aluminum body cars for years (A6 and A8), and the Acura NSX was aluminum.

The fun thing about it is that if you get a dent, you can't just pull them out, you have to replace the panel. Guess how much THAT costs to insure.

OTOH, there is no rust, and if you are nice to it, the body will last forever. Unfortunately, most people aren't particularly nice to trucks. There wasn't a problem with the traffic light sensors as they picked up the crank shaft.

Worried about the body catching on fire? nah. I was more worried about the magnesium oil pan.

Meh, aluminum if done right at the engineering phase is plenty strong enough and far lighter.

Its drawbacks is that dents are harder to repair and aluminum is, as I understand, quite a bit more expensive since it takes a lot more energy to make from ore than steel.

The extra cost is the main thing: if Al were cheaper it would have replaced most steel in cars a long time ago.

I guess Ford is going to cover the extra cost by raising prices and maybe trimming their profit margin (which is pretty damn high on trucks.)

Cars, especially econoboxes are WAY more price sensitive.

Ford is hoping the switch to the lighter metal will cut the weight of its F-150 truck by about 15 percent and help it meet tougher federal fuel-economy targets

You weren't doing much truckworthy in an F-150 anyway. Who is looking for a real work horse of a vehicle and figures to compromise on power and size? There are some specific reasons we bought F-250s rather than F-150s; we haul trailers and beds full of construction materials.

Firethorn: How do you define "truck-worthy"? I haul firewood, trash, furniture and tow a trailer with my Tacoma

I define "truckworthy" as things you be unwilling to do without an available truck. Hauling firewood, trash, and furniture are all truckworthy tasks, primarily because you are "hauling". This is why I said "much". Owners of F-150s will see no difference other than rising fuel economy.