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This Is How Ford Torture-Tested the 2015 F-150 [Video Gallery]

Every new vehicle has to take hardcore durability tests before it makes its way to the dealers. However, what the Blue Oval did with the all-new 2015 F-150 pickup truck beggars belief. From mountaintops to frozen lakes, the latest F-150 was put through its paces in the most harsh conditions imaginable to find out if it can live up to Built Ford Tough standards.
2015 Ford F-150 1 photo
Photo: Ford
Ford says that before the first all-new F-150 rolls off the assembly line, the model will have been subjected to 10 million miles of combined real-world and simulated durability testing. “We wanted to build the toughest, most capable F-150, while making it as much as 700 pounds lighter,” said Pete Reyes, Ford F-150 chief engineer. “We challenged the team to torture the truck harder than any F-150 before it.”

The pickup truck has been through hundreds of torture tests already, including trailer towing over mountain passes in temperatures exceeding 120 degrees, withstanding the frame-punishing terrain of difficult off-road courses and conquering a frozen lake at minus 40 degrees. Some Ford tests are so extreme that a five-day period equals 10 years or 150,000 miles of abuse by the roughest customers.

We're pretty sure you're curious what are the harshest tests the aluminum alloy body 2015 F-150 pickup truck has been through, so here's a few of those tests below:

#1 - Seven-channel input test: Ford built a special torture rack that violently twists and shakes the truck seven ways – simultaneously – for five days, simulating the equivalent of 225,000 miles.

#2 - Silver Creek durability course test: Test drivers beg off this route after one pass because the pounding and speed is so intense.


#3 - Power Hop Hill washboard track test: It was created to replicate a steep, off-road dirt trail in the Hualapai Mountains of northwest Arizona.

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About the author: Mircea Panait
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After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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