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2015 Ford F-150: Aluminum Body Repairs Part 1 (With Video)


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Oh, I know he was complaining about how the taillight had things like the BLIS sensors in it.

 

My point is that, when you are doing something incredibly stupid, and you do it with remarkable ineptitude, then you have absolutely no right to grouse about unintended consequences.

 

Analogy:

 

I get drunk, and decide to perform a three foot drop test with my brand new 60" HDTV. It does not survive the fall.

 

Do I have any business complaining that the cost to replace the HDTV is significantly higher than it would be to replace a rear projection TV of that size?

If you're performing your test to prove your desired conclusion, apparently yes.

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He spent 22 seconds of a 3 minute video yammering about the taillight that was broken because he is an idiot.

 

Also, according to their uncontrolled test, the difference in cost between steel and aluminum was about $150 less than the difference between an XLT taillight and a Lariat taillight.

 

That is what we in the grouching and kvetching world call "perspective."

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Here’s the flaw in Edmunds’ findings. They never took a sledgehammer to a 2014 F-150 to find out what it would cost to repair similar damage to a steel body panel. I’d like to take a look at that repair bill. Ford says the cost of pulling a dent from an aluminum body panel should take no longer than a steel one. Ford spokesman Mike Levine also says that in many cases the new F-150 will actually be easier to repair, because of its innovative modular structure which reduces repair time and helps save costs. Major body damage like the type Edmunds inflicted on the 2015 F-150 is rare – only about 1 percent of repair work, according to Ford. The majority of F-150 collision repairs will be non-structural and can be completed by most body shops today (e.g. bumpers, grilles, mirrors, dings, dents).

 

In fact, Ford offers up a fun video of its own, showing professional athletes whacking golf balls, baseballs and even a shot put into the reinforced truck bed to demonstrate that the aluminum F-150 is actually about 30 percent more ding- and dent-resistant than the outgoing steel model.

 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/joannmuller/2015/01/27/whats-crazier-than-smashing-an-aluminum-ford-f-150-with-a-sledgehammer-the-repair-bill/

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I would dispute his cost of the tail light. On my Mercury Montego, which has LED's in it, it would have cost me close to $700 to replace it at Ford's list price. I got lucky and found an Ebay one.

 

But you can't exactly equate the cost of one light being that much more only because of the sensors. LED units are more costly as well.

 

Plus, I would be bet the labor rates will slowly come closer to steel. Most likely by increasing steel labor costs. But the price differences will slowly close as more trucks are out there and repair shops get used to dealing with aluminum.

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I suppose you could beat one from a 2014, but given the panels aren't the same (not in materials, but in the way they're stamped), I'm not sure it would be meaningful.

 

Well, if you truly want to compare repair costs from steel to aluminum, you pretty much have to damage them with the same force, do you not? It won't be exact since they aren't the exact same shape as you said, but it will at least give you an idea of the difference between the two model year trucks.

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Well, if you truly want to compare repair costs from steel to aluminum, you pretty much have to damage them with the same force, do you not? It won't be exact since they aren't the exact same shape as you said, but it will at least give you an idea of the difference between the two model year trucks.

But then the experiment becomes the cost difference between a 2015 and a 2014, not the difference between steel and aluminum (alone--which is the premise of the article, as I interpret it).

 

That's the point. There's more at play than just the cost of the materials.

Edited by RangerM
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But then the experiment becomes the cost difference between a 2015 and a 2014, not the difference between steel and aluminum (alone--which is the premise of the article, as I interpret it).

 

That's the point. There's more at play than just the cost of the materials.

 

You are correct, but what they were really getting at was trying to prove the point that the Al '15 was going to cost more than the steel '14. Their ulterior motive was to say "hey, this new fangled Al .15 costs much more to repair than the old steel '14."

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You are correct, but what they were really getting at was trying to prove the point that the Al '15 was going to cost more than the steel '14. Their ulterior motive was to say "hey, this new fangled Al .15 costs much more to repair than the old steel '14."

Agreed. They're taking their conclusion and working backwards.

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What does that have to do with how expensive it is to repair?

 

It's not the cost to repair. It's the supposed difference in the cost to repair a steel panel vs the new aluminum one. Nobody ever complained or blabbered about the cost to repair the older steel panels, so if the aluminum panels cost the same to repair there is no story and no issue. And if it's more expensive you can compare it and say that it only costs a few bucks more than steel.

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You lost me.

 

He's just saying they're different shapes. So he's saying that if you laid a 2014 steel bed side panel on top of a 2015 aluminum bed side panel, they would not fit together snugly given their different shapes (they wouldn't line up, etc.).

 

Which certainly is true, and I understand his argument that crease placement, depth, etc. would affect the panel's strength in various places....however, for the sake of a comparison in which they are attempting to compare the cost of fixing the steel version of a truck to the cost of fixing the new aluminum version of the truck, they absolutely should have obtained a 2014 and performed the same test so you can compare the damage, cost, etc. Instead they compared the figure for fixing the aluminum to vaporware nothingness cost numbers they just "calculated" based on "estimations."

Edited by rmc523
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