Look out! The all-new 2009 Ford F-150 is even tougher than previously thought. Motor Trend’s Truck of the Year™ recently became America’s safest full-size pickup by earning 5-star frontal and side-impact ratings in National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) crash tests, as well as the “Top Safety Pick” award from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). Oh yeah, it also boasts an unmatched list of advanced standard safety features.

Tradeoffs? Not with the F-150, which has the best combined safety, capability and fuel economy ratings of any other half-ton truck thanks to advanced lightweight materials… breaking the myth that stronger vehicles are less efficient.

On a roll: The new F-150 led Ford’s F-Series lineup to a 32nd straight year of truck sales leadership in 2008. F-Series finished the year with 50,448 more unit sales than its nearest competitor. In addition, for the 27th year in a row, F-Series is once again America’s best-selling vehicle of any type. That’s right – including cars, crossovers, SUVs, trucks or vans. Since the all-new 2009 F-150 went on sale in October 2008, F-Series has actually gained market share, increasing from 31 percent of the full-size truck market in the first nine months to 37 percent in the fourth quarter.

The Toughest Truck

The F-150’s safety leadership is built on the solid structure that underpins the truck’s legendary “Built Ford Tough” durability and capability. The new truck has an all-new hydroformed steel front end – including use of tubular ultra-high-strength lighter weight steel that contributes to its unsurpassed fuel economy in the full-size pickup truck segment.

New to the 2009 F-150 is Ford’s standard Safety Canopy® side-curtain air bag rollover protection system, which helps protect front and rear outboard passengers in both rollovers and side-impact crashes. The air bag is designed to stay inflated for several seconds for additional protection in rollover crashes, which often last longer than side-impact crashes.

Ford’s Personal Safety System is made up of a suite of protection technologies, including dual-stage front air bags and occupant weight classification, working together to help protect occupants. Added to this is a Ford first – the new “K-bag,” a front seat dual-chamber side air bag named for its unique shape, which is designed to help protect the rib cage from excessive crash forces during a side impact.

Towing Safety and Convenience

The new F-150 has standard safety and towing aid technologies – including Advance Trac® with Roll Stability Control™ (RSC®), a first for the F-150 – that help customers more confidently use the truck’s segment-leading towing and hauling capability. The Ford-exclusive stability control system uses a gyroscopic sensor that uniquely helps detect and prevent both skidding and rollovers.

The system offers as standard integrated Trailer Sway Control technology, which helps determine from the yaw motion of the truck if the trailer is swaying and takes measures to help bring it under control. An available Integrated Trailer Brake Controller technology allows direct operation of the trailer’s electronic brakes with more confidence than typical aftermarket systems.

Tow Haul Mode changes shift points under acceleration, keeping the truck at a higher rpm and further up in the power range to improve the towing experience by avoiding unnecessary shifts in rolling terrain. The technology also prevents the transmission from shifting up in gear when the vehicle crests a hill, and provides downhill brake support that allows the transmission to downshift, letting engine-compression braking slow the vehicle and maintain a steady speed.

When Ford Motor Company set out to redesign the F-150 – the 2009 Motor Trend Truck of the YearTM and the best selling pickup of the past 31 years – the truck team knew it wanted to improve fuel efficiency. Even before fuel economy jumped from 10th to third place among pickup buyers’ top purchase considerations, the design team knew it needed to deliver a substantial improvement over the outgoing model, without sacrificing any capability.

The ‘Black Art’ of Aerodynamics

While Ford’s truck engineering team worked to make fuel efficiency gains through powertrain performance and weight reduction, the design team focused on what some designers call the “black art” of aerodynamics.

The new F-150 4×4 is now best-in-class for aerodynamics and unsurpassed fuel economy in its segment. The new F-150 SuperCrew 4X4 with a 5.5-foot box has the lowest coefficient of drag – 0.416 – of comparable configurations. That’s 6 percent lower than a comparable 2008 F-150.

The 2009 F-150 has a fleet-wide fuel economy improvement of 8 percent versus the 2008 model. For trucks equipped with the 5.4-liter V-8 engine, fuel economy improves by as much as 12 percent. At the same time, the new F-150 delivers class-leading towing capability of 11,300 pounds and hauling capacity of 3,030 pounds – a combination no other competitor can match.

Unsurpassed Fuel Economy in a Pickup

In addition, Ford is announcing the introduction of the new F-150 SFE (Superior Fuel Economy) edition delivering up to 21 miles per gallon on the highway while still providing 7,500 pounds of towing capability – fuel economy that is unsurpassed in the full-size pickup segment.

Improved from Front to Back

Key aero improvements for the new F-150 include:

A new chamfered shape to the rear of the cab, which incorporated the center-high-mount stop lamp. This shape helps direct aerodynamic wake over the pickup box efficiently.
The top of the tailgate, which angles outward to create a bold lip. This wider surface at the top of the tailgate works with the cab chamfering to direct airflow over the box efficiently.
The front bumper valence and spoiler design, which has been improved to better manage airflow underneath the truck without compromising off-road driving capability.
Other areas that Ford’s truck designers focused included the grille opening, running board, side mirrors and doors. Conventional wisdom suggests that a grille opening needs to be large to maximize air flow to the radiator, but the size of the grille opening on the new F-150 was optimized to allow enough air into the radiator while blocking the excess to minimize drag. In addition, designers shaped the running board and side mirrors and inset the doors to minimize wind noise and drag.