Edmunds Beats Up Its 2015 Ford F-150, Finds Out How Much It Costs To Fix

[mugencivic4dr]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDQZu8K51ZY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um7UpIA4X0s

Those of you worried about how well the aluminum body of a 2015 Ford F-150 would hold up under typical truck duties now have Edmunds to thank, as they took a sledgehammer to their brand new truck.

Edmunds took delivery of their $52,000 F-150 one day, and had associate editor Travis Langness hit its rear quarter panel with a sledgehammer the next day.

The first part of the test proves that the F-150's aluminum body can hold up pretty well to an unusual assault, so those of you who street-park your truck in a rowdy college town can rest a little more easily.

But the real test came when they took the truck to the body shop and had the panel fixed. This shows how well an aluminum panel can be repaired, and also how much it costs in relation to a typical steel panel and whether there are any other hurdles – given that this F-150 is fairly new.

Take a look at their full rundown (parts 1, 2 and 3 and the videos below, but the big takeaways from the repair costs are, 1.) That's a really expensive taillight to fix ($887 for one with the blind-spot system and LED in it) and you'd be pissed off if it got even a tiny crack in the lens, and 2.) An aluminum body panel can be four times as expensive as a steel panel to repair.

How many F-150s are going to be written off by insurance companies because of that troubling math?

But at least it's still tough.

http://www.carscoops.com/2015/01/edm...ord-f-150.html

[lucifer1]

I think a lot of people are interested in this, too bad they are being misleading. That bedside should be replaced not repaired. Being a brand new vehicle repair parts are typically unavailable for the first few months as they are needed to make the vehicles. I rather doubt anyone can get a bedside to repair. I have read conflicting things of how the bed is put together but thought the bedsides were supposedly easier to replace than previous models.

[mugencivic4dr]

i thought that bed sides are replacable. i really dont think a repaired aluminum panel can be as strong as it was before being damaged. i know that sheet metal looses strength once its heated to get it straightened. but i'm not really familiar with body work/repairs and don't know how accurate my post is either :/