Ford, Ram adopt low-tech solution for tough IIHS test

In the high-tech world of pickups, where sensors and computers regularly outnumber cylinders, often the best solutions are the simplest.

Case in point: To pass the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's vexing small offset crash test, Ford's simple, low-tech solution did the job.

Ford engineers welded tubular bars to the pickup's frame and placed them in the front wheel wells, fore and aft of the tire.

It was so effective that the redesigned 2015 Ford F-150 SuperCrew passed the IIHS offset test with flying colors, the institute revealed last week. Rival Ram has decided to use a similar solution for all its pickups, beginning with the 20151/2 Ram Rebel, released last month.

The IIHS testing on light-duty pickups is only beginning. On Thursday, July 30, the institute crash-tested a 2015 Toyota Tundra. Results of the Tundra test haven't been made public. However, a spokesman for Toyota said the full-size 2015 Tundra "did not require any modification, but airbag overlap was improved for the IIHS small offset" testing.

IIHS spokesman Russ Rader said a 2015 Ram 1500 Crew Cab will hit the wall in September. Tests of 2016 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 pickups will take place in December, he said.

At stake are safety ratings from the IIHS for the Detroit 3's top-selling nameplates, which are widely considered by shoppers. The offset test mimics a vehicle hitting a tree in the front corner at 40 mph.

Ford chose to leave the protective bars off its two other versions of the 2015 F-150, the regular cab and extended cab, called the SuperCab. The bars absorb energy and redirect some crash force away from the passenger compartment.

Without the bars, the SuperCab received a "marginal" rating on the IIHS offset test -- the second to the bottom, ahead of "poor," of four ratings on its scale. The regular cab, which IIHS says is structurally similar to the SuperCab, was not tested.

Recognizing the disparity in the test results, Ford spokesman Mike Levine said last week that the company now plans to equip the regular cab and SuperCab with "countermeasures" to protect passengers in the 2016 model year. He declined to say whether they would be the protective bars, called wheel blockers by many engineers.

Metal bars welded on one end to a pickup frame, which resemble cattle horns, might seem simple. But David Zuby, IIHS' chief research officer, says they are effective.

Consider how they performed in the IIHS' two F-150 tests.

"In the [SuperCrew], we see those horns that extend from the frame do take some load. They're bent after the crash test. They help absorb some energy and deflect the vehicle away from the barrier," Zuby explained.

"As the structure crumples around those horns, the whole vehicle starts to move to the right," so some force is directed away from the toe pan and door hinge pillar, Zuby explained.

When the extended cab pickup without the protective bars struck the barrier, the wheel was driven back toward the passenger compartment. Zuby said it shoved the steering column 8 inches back toward the crash-test dummy's chest, and it moved the toe pan and brake pedals rearward about a foot toward the dummy's legs.

The SuperCrew's "horns," as Zuby calls them, are relatively inexpensive, at least as compared with such safety technology as sensor-activated automatic braking. Ford's parts catalog lists the retail replacement prices for its "Frame Bracket with Crew Cab Protectors" as $50-$58 each.

Though his sample size is still limited to just the two F-150 tests so far, at least in terms of pickups, Zuby said the horns "seem to do a good job of protecting the occupant compartment from excessive intrusion in this type of crash."

The IIHS is continuing to crash-test other automakers' pickup trucks through year end, the institute's Rader said.

Zuby said the IIHS will now test more than one body style of the pickups -- a departure from past IIHS practice. The institute originally planned to test only the 2015 F-150 SuperCrew. But it tested the SuperCab after Automotive News informed IIHS staffers that the SuperCab and regular cab lacked the protective bars.

"In the short term, we're going to test at least the two most popular versions of pickup trucks, so that we know the full story on front crashworthiness on these vehicles," Zuby said.

Other pickup crash tests "will be 2016 models," Rader said. The IIHS will retest the F-150 SuperCab, which had received only the "marginal" rating, "when the 2016 model with the small overlap changes becomes available."