Photo: Ford
In March, American carmaker Ford pulled the wraps off the “only pursuit-rated pickup purpose-built for law enforcement” in America, the F-150 Police Responder. Enough time has passed since that time for law enforcement agencies to toy with it a bit, and the results are more than encouraging.
According to the official numbers, the F-150 in Protect and Serve overalls comes with a top speed of 120 mph (193 kph). Still, no acceleration figures were provided, so until this week, it was unclear how fast the 3.5-liter EcoBoost engine (400 horsepower, 500 lb-ft/677 Nm of torque) can get.
Luckily, officers from the Michigan State Police and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department have been putting the pickup through its paces, and the numbers are now in.
According to the Michigan State Police, the F-150 was capable of hitting 60 mph (96 kph) in 5.4 seconds, a time that is 1.2 seconds faster than for the previous F-150, and “at least 0.4 seconds faster than any other vehicle tested”—we are not told what vehicles those were. The truck's top speed, which is 15 mph (24 kph) higher than before, was also confirmed by police officers.
In the hands of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officers, the truck was driven to a quarter-mile distance in 14.4 seconds, a second faster than the 2020 model year.
Ford places the gains in speed and acceleration on the “increased torque and new torque-on-demand 4x4 transfer case,” with the piece of hardware also responsible for faster speeds when cornering.
To put that theory to the test, both law enforcement agencies conducted 32-lap vehicle dynamics tests. In Michigan, the truck proved to be a full 5.8 seconds faster than before, while in Los Angeles, the gain is of 3.6 seconds. However, in this case, the truck carried with it 400 lbs (181 kg) of payload.
Out patrolling the roads since 2017, the police F-150 in this new configuration will be ready for deployment in the fall.
Luckily, officers from the Michigan State Police and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department have been putting the pickup through its paces, and the numbers are now in.
According to the Michigan State Police, the F-150 was capable of hitting 60 mph (96 kph) in 5.4 seconds, a time that is 1.2 seconds faster than for the previous F-150, and “at least 0.4 seconds faster than any other vehicle tested”—we are not told what vehicles those were. The truck's top speed, which is 15 mph (24 kph) higher than before, was also confirmed by police officers.
In the hands of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officers, the truck was driven to a quarter-mile distance in 14.4 seconds, a second faster than the 2020 model year.
Ford places the gains in speed and acceleration on the “increased torque and new torque-on-demand 4x4 transfer case,” with the piece of hardware also responsible for faster speeds when cornering.
To put that theory to the test, both law enforcement agencies conducted 32-lap vehicle dynamics tests. In Michigan, the truck proved to be a full 5.8 seconds faster than before, while in Los Angeles, the gain is of 3.6 seconds. However, in this case, the truck carried with it 400 lbs (181 kg) of payload.
Out patrolling the roads since 2017, the police F-150 in this new configuration will be ready for deployment in the fall.
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