In the auction industry we see a ton of pickup trucks being used for construction. Is aluminum strong enough to stand up to the abuse that pickups receive on job sites? With that said, will the cost to repair this new body cost more than the old body? Can all repair shops work with aluminum?
It seems that Ford has already gotten ahead of these concerns and have been actively working to make sure that more than 30,000 independent repair shops in the U.S. are certified to make repairs. According to Wayne Grayson of Equipment World, Ford has done a great job of showing just how durable the aluminum can be. You can follow this link to the video showing the 10 “torture tests” given to the new F-150’s- http://www.equipmentworld.com/f150-torture/. Included in the torture test is the seven channel input torture rack, where a machine twists and shakes the F-150 in seven different ways simultaneously for five consecutive days to stress-test the durability of the frame. Supposedly this is equivalent to driving 225,000 miles. Let’s just say it held up pretty good, you should check it out!