Talk about some heavy duty news being talked about at Planet Ford in Spring, Texas (serving The Woodlands, Cypress, Conroe and Houston). This week, Ford, America’s truck leader, introduced the automakers new 2017 Ford F-Series Super Duty. Ford says this is the toughest, smartest, most capable Super Duty truck lineup ever.
Joe Hinrichs, Ford president of The Americas said, “Ford Super Duty is the truck America’s hardest-working men and women trust and depend on. We are helping these customers build a better world by delivering a new generation of pickups that set new benchmarks in capability, performance and efficiency.”
What’s new?
Ford is utilizing advanced materials to reduce the vehicle’s weight. Plus, the 2017 Super Duty truck and chassis cab feature all-new, segment-exclusive smart technology to help increase customer productivity, comfort and convenience.
“While Super Duty is America’s best-selling heavy-duty truck, we never take our leadership for granted,” said Raj Nair, Ford group vice president, Global Product Development and chief technical officer. “Our team is using relentless innovation in materials, technology and Built Ford Tough engineering to deliver customers our best Super Duty yet.”
The Tough Stuff
At the core of Fords new F-series is a new, fully boxed frame that is made from more than 95 percent high-strength steel. It’s up to 24 times stiffer than the previous frame – enabling the most towing and hauling capability ever delivered by Super Duty. In addition, the Ford truck line up features heavier-duty four-wheel-drive components, driveline, axles and towing hardware.
And for the very first time, Ford’s Super Duty body utilizes high-strength, military-grade, aluminum alloy, which is more dent- and ding-resistant than the outgoing steel body.
Weigh Down
Implementing the new high-strength steel and high-strength aluminum alloy help reduce weight by up to 350 pounds while Ford is reinvesting additional weight savings everywhere it counts, to give customers more towing and hauling capability.
Smarts
Towing is always a primary focus when designing the Super Duty. All-new advanced coaching and camera technology makes conventional and gooseneck/fifth-wheel towing easier and more efficient.
Ford unveiled 16 segment-first new features – from LED lighting to adaptive cruise control – that assist Super Duty drivers to make driving and work situations easier and more comfortable.
As many as seven cameras help customers see more angles and monitor conditions surrounding the truck, and provide better trailering than ever before.
A center high-mounted stop lamp camera aids in visibility into the cargo box, especially for easier hook-up of gooseneck/fifth-wheel trailers. The 360-degree camera system will use four digital, high-definition cameras to give truck drivers a bird’s-eye view surrounding Super Duty. Trailer reverse guidance provides visual cues and tips to help ease backing up a trailer. A first-ever, factory-available trailer camera can be attached to a trailer to improve visibility backing up.
Super Duty owners will also appreciate in-cab trailer tire pressure monitoring system from the comfort of the cab while stopped or on the highway.
Adaptive steering allows drivers to have increased confidence to help make towing the heaviest of loads easier and brings greater ease to navigating job sites and parking lots – with or without a trailer. The technology reduces the amount of steering input needed to change direction at low speed, while reducing sensitivity to steering input at higher speeds.
The all-new Super Duty is available with a number of driver-assist technologies:
SYNC® 3 is Ford Motor Company’s new communications and entertainment system. the system will feature faster performance, conversational voice recognition and an easier-to-understand graphical interface, along with an intuitive smartphone-like 8-inch touch screen
Blind Spot Information System with trailer tow is optimized for Super Duty to include the length of the trailer; BLIS® uses radar sensors in the taillamps to monitor areas that may not be visible to the driver
Lane departure warning provides a warning when a driver strays from a lane through a series of steering wheel vibrations that mimic rumble strips
Adaptive cruise control and collision warning with brake support use sensors to detect slower vehicles moving in the same direction. If another vehicle is too close, red lights flash on the windshield and a warning sound chimes. If the driver does not hit the brakes, the brake system is pre-charged to stop faster when the brake pedal is pressed
Advanced light-emitting diode technology sheds light all around the new Super Duty, including:
- New LED sideview mirror spotlights enable illumination surrounding the truck to light up a work site or camp site
- Class-exclusive quad-beam LED headlamps and taillamps
- New LED cargo box lighting
New Generation
The second-generation Ford-designed, Ford-built 6.7-liter Power Stroke® V8 diesel engine is available for pickup trucks and chassis cabs providing the highest combination of horsepower and torque ever.
The 6.2-liter V8 gasoline engine comes equipped with the new TorqShift-G transmission for the F-250 pickup – allowing for improved capability.
The Super Duty chassis cab lineup offers a choice of 6.7-liter Power Stroke V8 diesel, 6.8-liter V10 gasoline or 6.2-liter V8 gasoline engines.
“The bottom line is Super Duty customers will be able to tow and haul more than ever before,” said Schmatz.
Interior and Cargo Space
All three cabs (Regular Cab, SuperCab and Crew Cab) will be longer and feature a new interior design, including dual compartment glove box, overhead console-mounted auxiliary switches to operate aftermarket equipment, and completely flat SuperCab and Crew Cab second-row floors that make loading large items in the cab easy. Vital controls are close at hand, with the integrated trailer brake controller switch located even closer to the driver.
Customer accessibility and ease of use extend outside the truck as well, with the cargo box offering customers these class-exclusive features:
BoxLink™: Ford-patented combination of metal brackets and custom cleats that can be used to secure a variety of accessories in the cargo box
Remote tailgate lock and release: Tailgate can be locked/unlocked and opened with the key fob, eliminating manual locking and increasing convenience and security. The tailgate is damped – dropping gently down, hands-free, to a flat position when opened
There are five models in the Super Duty lineup – XL, XLT, Lariat, King Ranch and Platinum. We expect to see them available at Planet Ford on I-45 late next year. If you’re ready to shop for your Super Duty now, we invite you to take a short drive down I-45 or shop online anytime at www.PlanetFord45.com.