FORD F150 ACCESSORIES & Parts

Ford is planning to enlarge the payload capacitiy of its half-ton segment by 29.5 percent.

According to the PickupTrucks, the biggest increase comes to the Ford F-150 equipped with an all-new 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 engine that delivers 365 horsepower and 240 lb-ft of torque. The maximum payload capacity of the two-wheel-drive models with a 6.5-foot bed will be enlarged from 2,000 pounds to 2,590 pounds.

Another visible changes will be seen also on the all-wheel-drive models that have the same configurations as listed above. The payload capacity of these vehicles with 6.5-foot box will be increased from 1,890 pounds to 2,340 pounds. In such a way, the automaker wants to prolong the lifetime as well as increase sales of its heavy-duty models from the Supercab and Regular cab configurations with eight-foot beds to the more popular Supercrew.

2011 Ford F-150 managed to contribute to the myriad awards of Ford best-selling truck family. In the first half of 2011 new Ford F-150 Super Crew was granted the Top Safety Pick by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Under the regulations of IIHS the participants are estimated according to their results after passing frontal offset impact test, roof strength and side impact tests. Also a vehicle is evaluated on rear impact test results. In order to be crowned by the Top Safety Pick, the participants are to show the highest score under all four criteria. Safety regulation of IIHS also requires electronic stability control system as an obligatory on-board equipment for every model participated in the tests. The Ford F-150 models, built after February 2011, received four out of four possible points and thus proved once again the Ford's commitments to safety. At present the position of vice president of Sustainability, Environment and Safety Engineering of Ford group is occupied by Sue Cischke. Following the results of the test Sue Cischke made the following statement:“Safety ratings are important markers customers can use to evaluate vehicles, so we are proud Ford has the most top U.S. safety ratings of any automaker ever”. Nowadays Ford Motor company has 11 vehicles with IIHS Top Safety Pick award.

In addition to safety advantage, the 2011 Ford F-150 features up to 20 % of fuel economy and 11,300 pounds of towing capacity. Both criteria are best in class as for today. The new F-150 is offered with EPA certified truck engine. EcoBoost™ engine is designed to give 365 hp and 420 lb.-ft. of torque. It is expected that new 2011 F-150 will be of a great demand in the U.S. It is also worth mentioning that the F-Series was announced the best-selling truck in the U.S. for the 34th year running.

Not only the truck buyers are fond of tuning their Fords F-150. Fastlane tuner shop made a great job truing to squeeze more power and performance from the advanced direct-injection twin-turbo engine. The improvements began from the installation of the brand-new catalytic converters with wide pipes which added extra 30 hp. The power increase was proved by the Fastlane's chassis dyno. The suspension of the truck was also lowered giving the vehicle more sporty look. The A-pillar received a PLX boost gauge to show turbo boost levels. The engine received a carbon fiber skin.

The road test showed great improvement in the handling, there was also a difference in the 0-60 acceleration – 6.07 seconds, comparing to the previous 6.82 seconds result. The quarter mile run showed such a result - 14.97 seconds at 92.61 mph. Not too shabby for a relatively simple hardware upgrade. Fastlane said that the best upgrades are yet to come, though its going to take a bit longer. There is still a problem with cracking the strong encryption which Ford put into the ECU. Once this will be done, they are planning to replace stock turbos with high-performance BorgWarner EFR ones, they feature lightweight titanium turbine wheels for faster spool-up.

After talks with U.S. safety regulators in Washington, Ford has issued a massive recall action for its popular F-150 pickup truck. The recall involves nearly 1.2 million vehicles that may have defective air bags.

Complying the demand of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Ford Motor Co. is expanding a much smaller recall it had enacted back in February. Previously, 144,000 of the pickup trucks from the 2004 to 2006 model years were recalled due to a possible short circuit that can cause the air bags to deploy unexpectedly, in some cases injuring drivers. The NHTSA claimed the fault caused airbags to deploy inadvertently in 269 cases, resulting in 98 injuries, some of them serious. Ford found the airbag deployments were linked to a "wiring chafe" condition and urged customers to “seek service immediately for an airbag warning lamp that is illuminated”.

Ford will notify customers in May and will ask them to take affected vehicles to their dealers for repair at no cost. The entire operation will involve a replacement of an airbag wire in the steering wheel and should take less than half a day.

For the record, Ford's F-Series pickup truck is the top-selling vehicle in North America, and the F-150 makes up about 60 percent of F-Series sales.

According to Pickuptrucks.com that posted some spy photos of the M-plated test Ford F-150 SVT Raptor, the half-ton pickup truck is likely to get daytime LED running lights.

The Raptor is equipped with exterior LED lighting in order to adjust its extra track width to federal regulations mandating illuminated marker lamps at night. There are three LEDs placed in the center stoplight, three in the grille and two each at the corners of the front and rear bumpers. The white lights, as seen in the pictures, are mounted between the front bumper and fenders.

The new LED lighting may appear on the 2011.5 models but it is most likely to be applied in the 2012 model year.

Other changes rumored for future Raptors may include an e-locker for more efficient off-road maneuvers at low speed, and heated/cooled seats that are now available in the cabin of the 2011 Ford F-Series SD.