Another week, another move in America's Ultimate Four-Wheeled Junk-Size Showdown, also known as the heavy-duty pickup wars. This time, Ford is in the news, stating that it is no longer going to use "minimum" curb weights to establish its payload and tow ratings, aligning with GM and Ram in using "base" curb weights to determine payload and towing capacities.
By using minimum curb weights rather than base curb weights, manufacturers could—and, in the case of Ford and GM, did—remove certain superfluous items like, you know, dashboard pieces and bumpers and other things, or use lighter accessory wheels, in order to lower the weights of their trucks by up to 150 pounds. This, in turn, would raise their gross vehicle weight ratings (GVWR), sometimes allowing one brand to barely score bragging rights. And this is important because bragging rights are everything in this segment; it's less important that you can tow the moon than that you can tow the moon plus five more pounds of birdseed, thus making the dude in the truck next to you fill his 10-gallon hat with tears of shame. Pure 'Murica, that is!
Significantly, Ford told Automotive News that it would not recalculate the ratings for the F-250 and F-350 until they are redesigned, which is likely to happen for 2016, but it proudly proclaims that its mighty 2015 F-450 Super Duty pickup, with its massive 19.5-inch wheels and son-of-Peterbilt chassis, retains its 31,200-pound tow rating, which is 1200 pounds more than its closest Class-3 competitor, a regular-cab Ram 3500 4×2.
Ford is still messing with the numbers a little bit. As AN points out, Ford may be using the higher curb weight as its basis for its payload rating, but it has also lowered it by 150 pounds to keep it under the 14,000-pound GVWR, thereby allowing the F-450 to retain its Class-3 pickup designation, so it can stay in the same classroom as the Ram 3500 and the Chevrolet Silverado 3500.
- About Face: GM Pledges to State Honest Truck Payload Ratings
- Towed Ya So! Ram Adopts SAE Tow Ratings for 2015 Pickups
- Ford F-250 Super Duty Research: Photos, Reviews, Info, and More
Mind you, no actual changes have been made to the products. Nothing about the truck—or the driver, for that matter—has been altered.
from Car and Driver Blog http://ift.tt/nSHy27
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