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F-150 results mixed

The four-door, aluminum-sided 2015 Ford F-150 Super Crew, top, got top ratings in all five of the crash tests. But the Super Cab version, bottom, did poorly in a small front overlap test.
Aluminum truck gets crash tested

DETROIT — Ford’s new aluminum-sided F-150 pickup saw mixed results in new crash tests by the insurance industry, and the damaged trucks cost more to repair than steel-bodied ones.

The four-door Super Crew version of the 2015 F-150 got top ratings in all five of the crash tests performed by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. For now, it is the only full-size truck on the market with the institute’s “Top Safety Pick” rating.

But the Super Cab version, which has a smaller rear door and back seat, did poorly in a small front overlap test, which slams 25 percent of the front of the truck into a barrier at 40 mph. It didn’t earn the top safety award.

The Insurance Institute also said it took longer for a local Ford dealer to repair the aluminum truck than an older steel one, and the aluminum parts cost more.

The institute said the repair costs were 26 percent higher for the aluminum-bodied truck.

In a statement, Ford said the new truck is the “safest F-150 ever” and noted it has the government’s highest five-star safety rating.

But the company said it will make a design change in the 2016 model year to improve the crash performance of the Super Cab and Regular Cab models.

Ford said the Super Crew — which got the top safety award — accounts for 83 percent of all F-150 sales. The Super Cab makes up around 12 percent and the Regular Cab accounts for 5 percent.

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