After decades of building America’s best-selling truck, Ford knows a thing or two about what buyers have come to expect. We may take it for granted, but the engineers in charge of designing trucks like the Ford Super Duty have to test for all sorts of scenarios. They are charged with putting the machines through rigorous obstacles and crazy courses in a bid to ensure that the final product can handle anything owners throw at it.
In this latest battery of tests, Ford loaded a Super Duty with 7,500 pounds worth of simulated camper weight as engineers were tasked with slinging the heavy-duty pickup through slalom courses at high speed.
10 on-board sensors monitor a wide array of factors 100 times every second in order to collect the data needed to ensure that the Super Duty is up to the task. You have to consider that although the number of people who are going to saddle their Super Duty with almost four tons of camping equipment are few and far between, these tests can literally mean the difference between life or death.
Take, for example, the emergency lane change maneuvers. Most cars should have no issue with making a last-minute lane change, but when you add 7,500 pounds of weight to the bed, the Super Duty’s center of gravity shifts dramatically. Ford has to account for these factors before it can ever sell a single unit, and this 50-second video really doesn’t do these engineers or their tests much justice.
We take them for granted, never knowing all the little details that may one day save a life.