F-150, Ram Get Much-Needed Safety Features
Brawny V-8s and inventive storage features aren’t the only improvements for two of Detroit’s best-selling pickups. When the redesigned Ford F-150 and Dodge Ram hit dealerships this fall, some important safety features will also be standard — namely, electronic stability systems to counteract skids and side curtain airbags to protect occupants in a collision.
The extra features mark a “huge development” for pickup trucks, said Russ Rader, spokesman for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Pickups have generally trailed the market in safety features, with just 8 percent offering standard stability systems in 2007, according to IIHS. That same year, 58 percent of cars and 87 percent of SUVs were equipped with those systems standard. Worse yet, head- and chest-protecting side airbags were standard on just 7 percent of pickups in 2007, Rader said.
The outgoing Ram offered stability control and side airbags as options, but the F-150 – America’s best-selling vehicle — had neither. Despite the bravado-fueled perception that occupants in pickups are safer in crashes, Rader said they may actually need these features more than those riding in cars.
“Pickups have a rollover problem in the same way that SUVs do, and it’s a high center of gravity,” Rader said. He noted that nearly 40 percent of pickup-truck drivers killed in single-vehicle crashes are killed because of a rollover — just a few points below the statistic for SUV drivers (46 percent) and nearly double that of car drivers (21 percent). “If any vehicle needs electronic stability control, it’s pickup trucks,” he said.
Ditto for side airbags — pickups need them, too, and for the same reasons cars do.
“You’re thinking, [I’m] sitting up high, so why do I need curtain airbags?” Rader said. “Even though your head may not be hitting what’s coming at you, it can hit the side window, the window sill and things inside the vehicle. Plus, some side-impacts involve sliding into trees and poles, which is a vulnerability no matter what kind of car you’re in.”
Why have pickups been so slow to adopt these features? Ford representative Wes Sherwood said last year that the then-current F-150, which hadn’t been redesigned since early 2003, arrived before features like stability control and side airbags had become widespread. Ford “remains committed” to truck safety, Sherwood said.
Evidently, the proof is in the 2009 F-150. The truck boasts a standard rollover-resisting stability system in the form of Ford’s AdvanceTrac, which is also programmed to correct trailer sway. Side curtain airbags are also standard, and an optional trailer-brake controller can automatically apply trailer brakes as needed.
The federal government will require that stability systems be on all vehicles in a few years, and side airbags will be all but necessary for cars to pass new side-impact crash tests with stricter standards. But do truck buyers — particularly those who want an inexpensive work truck — really want to pay extra for them now? Ford thinks so.
“If you’re a fleet owner buying this truck, it’s going to keep it from being out of service because it got in an accident,” F-150 chief engineer Matt O’Leary said. “[The features] do add some cost to the vehicle, but we’re trying to protect the customer from that.”
Dodge officials echoed that sentiment, adding that the extra safety features don’t cost as much as before. Like the F-150, the 2009 Ram offers standard stability control and curtain airbags.
“My assumption is that [having these features] would parlay into lower insurance rates,” Ram chief designer Ralph Gilles said. “That stuff has come down [in price] significantly once the architecture is there.” Adding stability control once you have antilock brakes, for example, is relatively easy to do, Gilles said.
The extra cost could be less than $400 per truck. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that side-impact and side curtain airbags cost around $250 per vehicle, while electronic stability systems add $111 in models already equipped with ABS. Both the F-150 and Ram had standard ABS for the 2008 model year.
Competitive pressure may have helped prompt Ford and Dodge to ratchet up the safety equipment. When Toyota redesigned the Tundra for 2007, it included six airbags, ABS and a stability system as standard equipment — enough to help it become the first pickup to be named an IIHS Top Safety Pick. The 2008 Nissan Titan and Chevy Silverado both offer optional side airbags and stability systems.
“In a competitive marketplace, you can’t afford to lag behind in safety,” Rader said. “The rest of the manufacturers want to catch up. They don’t want to be perceived as being behind the curve.”
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