We hit our new long-term 2015 Ford F-150 with a sledgehammer to test the theory that aluminum is more expensive to repair. After a week in the body shop, the repairs are done and we’re breaking…
Edmunds.com Editors Sledgehammer Aluminum 2015 Ford F-150 | PART 2
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Here’s the conclusion to our sledgehammer vs +Ford Motor Company F-150
experiment: http://edmu.in/1Cd21hi
There’s a flaw in the science here. The body shop’s estimate for steel and
aluminum are both based on the damage done to an aluminum panel. So, the
“steel” estimate is irrelevant because a steel panel may have shown twice
the damage from the same amount of force of the hammer which would take
more hours to repair. For the sake of accurate science, you’d really need
to swing that hammer at an older steel F-150. Otherwise you could have
saved a lot of trouble and just called the body shop and asked them their
steel vs aluminum rates.
so the cost of manufacturing aluminum body truck vs steel body (aluminum
body is cheaper) >> point to manufacturer
.
but with less weight, manufacturers can now use 4 cylinder turbos instead
of V6’s which cost more >> point to manufacturer
.
the use of aluminum body has proven by this video to draw customers to pay
MORE for repairs >> point to manufacturer
.
the use of turbo engines has proven to make stress on engines causing more
wear = expensive repair >> point to manufacturer
>
>
manufacturers had indeed thought of every tiny bit to squeeze money out of
customers’ pockets. You would think that by lowering the cost, vehicles
should now be cheaper. But look around, have prices changed? the answer is
yes, but it ironically became more expensive. so they are lowering the cost
of manufacturing yet charging consumers more money !!!
What they’re not mentioning is that a steel panel would have sustained more
damage, given the same impacts. That would result in a higher repair bill.
Apples to oranges comparison.
Hammer missed the tail light… 900$ tail light cracks anyway. Quality
work there, Ford.
This does not look good for the new F-150
Trying to figure out why paying out of pocket costs half as much as going
through insurance? You know damn well the insurance company is not paying
double what you are, in fact probably much less than your out of pocket
costs, so why the inflated number? Also I highly doubt it takes double the
time to fix this over steel or anywhere near the amount of time they claim
it takes, just sounds like price gouging.
Are you kidding me? Has Ford Collision repair engineers seen this and
approved?
I don’t get it why piss away $4k couldn’t they have done a hypothetical ?
It’s not like there is a super computer encased in Swarovski crystals
behind the the panel.
Thanks for the experiment but it would have been better with a control
truck, a steel 2014 F-150. Without comparing the damage to a steel body you
did not answer if aluminum I stronger or weaker.
Dealerships are absolutely ridiculous. They an excessive amount of time and
still end up screwing things up. They try to replace things that haven’t
been majorly damaged and put newer, more expensive things in it’s place
(the taillight for example) About a year ago, I had my driver’s side mirror
clipped off by a truck. The cost to replace and paint it was well over
$1000. I asked my local body shop how much they it would have been to
replace it. They told me the mirror would have costed $300 and paint would
have been $250. So basically half of what the dealership costed and better,
quicker work with no flaws. If you’re curious, it’s a 2013 Infiniti with
Aspen Pearl paint; some really expensive paint.
The purpose was to get a baseline for how much fixing this truck would
eventually cost. Well done Edmunds for sharing the knowledge (and telling
it like it is in every other video you do as well).
Wow with a repair cost that high,I don’t see keeping it out of
insurance.You are going to have to make a claim.
So $4000 bondo repair job. Which sticks to either aluminum or metal. And
can be done inexpensively by any independant shop for cheap.
I guess the sheeple insurance company will have to pay crazy money, which
will raise rates.
BTW, I wouldnt want bondo in my new truck, I wonder if and how, they
replace the bed side skin?
oh wow this a great 1st hand taste of the true cost of such a small
dent.Now i will have to think twice before purchasing a new f150
A couple thoughts for Ford lovers who are countering this. First, we all
know it’s going to be more expensive to fix…FACT. So eventually when the
Insurance companies catch on, you will be paying 30% more for your policy.
Second, aluminum is not as rigid as steel. This aluminum is forged and
treated to make it stronger than the current steel panels on trucks. So
this process the aluminum goes through will cost more. Guess who
pays?…….the customer as will be reflected on the selling price. So you
can be “wamboozled” to think this lighter aluminum truck getting better gas
mileage will save you money…….ahhhh think again.
I watched the first part and thought it was awesome.
And the second part was informative. I’d expect a mild increase in labor
time on aluminum.
BUT THE WHOLE DANG WORLD HAS GONE INSANE WHEN A TAILLIGHT IS 800$!!!!!
That’s just plain stupid.
I would think the aluminum repair cost will go down some in time. It’s
brand new tech. I can only imagine the greater visual damage for a steel
truck. Plus the potential corrosion over time. Seems lame to test this at
this time. Edmunds are the folks who paid 52k for a truck. Apparently they
can afford to fix it.
Tesla owners are already crying about the cost to fix those aluminium
panels as well. Too bad those plastic Saturn panels offered zero weight
savings.
Wouldn’t the steel body have more damage with the same sledge hammer hits?
Is it more expensive to repair aluminum or steal? Instead of just calling a
body shop and asking, lets buy a brand new truck and hit it with a hammer.
That’s some fucking logic right there!
As others have noted, this is an interesting experiment, but you’ll need to
repeat it with a steel bodied 2014 truck to get the net-net or
apples-to-apples comparison.
I’d suggest engaging MythBusters to do a bit on their show (let Ford pick
up the tab.)
I’m sure you’ve thought through how to make this a more scientific endeavor.
You would need to get an industrial engineer to reproduce the pile driver
calcs on that sledge — otherwise, just go to the other side of your truck
and use the driver side panel — to reproduce the event say with the sledge
on a drop swing (to consistently reproduce the incidental angle and
velocity) impacting with the steel bodied F-150 and then be sure the
repairs are done by the same skill set and same estimator and same service
manager for costing.
Better off going with a steel body, obviously because it’s cheaper to
repair as shown
and you could have just spoke about hours vs cost with out wasting money,
but there you go
Is it me or does it look like they threw some bondo on there? in which case
any bloke with $200 and a weekend could do this.
o hell no, that truck is $52k? looks like a regular ass truck tho
$52k for a Ford pickup? No wonder Ford makes a killing selling these
things.
Did I hear that correctly? They paid half off from their own pocket what it
would have been doubled had the insurance paid for it. Sounded like a scam
to me!
So, in reality, what Edmunds has done is expose an insurance SCAM that body
shops are charging more money to fix aluminum since the dealership you took
the vehicle did the repairs at the same rate. Fixing a panel is fixing a
panel…and when the insurance companies catch on to the scam…they will
begin to deny claims….
I work with aluminum panels and structure on a daily basis for the past 4
years. Mainly euro models. I don’t believe that a tech working on
commission took the time to repair a dent like that to return it to within
repair specs. I am betting if you look on the inside of the panel you will
find it not looks as good as the outside. With deep dents filled with
filler and possibly cracks.
If I was given that job I would have recommended to replace the bedside.
Not only is it a rather easy job, but would result in the better repair. No
welding involved just rivets and adhesive, mine you that is Ford specific
rivets and adhesive.
Aluminum is very hard to reshape and requires specials tools and the
technique to use those tools properly. It is nothing like repairing steel,
my typical quote for repairing ALU is twice as many hours if I was quoting
steel. But them again anything dealing with ALU takes twice as long
generally speaking.
damn guys! the 2015 looks sweet! it looks alot more heavy duty, like the
f250 and f350
You lucky Americans, $52K for this beast of a car whilst it would cost us
above $150K to get it here in Australia. Stop your whinging about the
prices unless you live here!!
This was a terribly unscientific experiment. Whether or not aluminum is
more expensive than steel isn’t the question that needs to be asked. It’s
what are the real world repair costs differences. The two materials behave
differently therefor you’d need to repeat the impacts exactly on an
identical truck with a steel body. And the taillight being more expensive
now because of the built-in radar is irrelevant.
But you sure did lay out the fact that your Ford shop is evidently
bamboozling insurance companies which ultimately comes back to the consumer
in the form of higher premiums.
It seems like the proposed goal of this video could have been accomplished
a lot more easily by just calling down to your local body shops and asking
what their labor rates were for steel and aluminum. But I guess I’m being a
little naive since the commercial that plays before the clip is the real
reason for the video being made…
I agree but is it better than the land Rover Defender body?
so much respect lost for Edmunds after these two videos. You’d think a
company like that would be a little smarter and realize the future of
aluminum bodies. Of course its going to be more expensive to repair, shops
have more parts and tools to replace/fix steel, not aluminum. This means
thats vehicles with aluminum will be more expensive to fix, all due to
“supply and demand”, come on and say it Edmunds “supply and demand”.
Look at the reaction to the little amount of damage caused to the aluminum
by a freaking sledgehammer. Combine that with all the additional perks of
using a lightweight aluminum and soon you’ll have the remaining auto
industry following in their footsteps, just like the crazy idea of dropping
a small engine like the EcoBoost (lightweight and powerful) in the truck.
This will all lead to dealerships and auto shops fixing their shops to
cater aluminum body vehicles, thus bringing down the price of repairs. If
you’re going to conduct a stupid study such as this, please provide the
positives and negatives, not just the stupid cost estimates from your local
dealer. Don’t ask for newer and better vehicles if you’re only going to
point out why they might not work right then and now, next time point out
why they might become a good idea, or what will have to be done for it to
work out. I never thought i’d have to explain something to a company thats
been in the industry for so long. As they say on ESPN “C’MON MAN”
one thing i dont think you mentioned is finding a shop that is able to do
aluminum repair. i work for a medium sized body shop and we dont do
anything aluminum. one good thing about these trucks is 25 years now when
you go to scrap one you should get a bunch of money for it :)
$52,000 for a pickup? No Thanks
Of course the aluminum is going to cost more to repair; it’s a harder metal
to work with and requires specialzed training and techniques to repair.
Hardly a shock. But that’s the nature with any early adopted technology. As
it becomes more commonplace in the mass market, costs will go down. This
has held true of every advancement in the history of the automobile, and
it’s that sort of bold innovation that has taken us from the Model T to the
current F-150.
I would really love to see this exact same thing done to a steel body
F-150. If you guys dropped $52k on a ’15 you should be able to find a ’14
for less. What would a steel bed look like after getting whacked twice
with an 8lb sledge?
Wow twice the time AND money. What’s the upside?
Kinda of a pointless test. Not sure how many people have the problem off
random sledgehammers flying into their truck.. now some real world test may
have been nice to see. Like a shopping cart flying into the bed. Which
seems it may have not done any damage at all and we all know does on a
steel body. So then the conclusion would be a savings in that you would not
be in a body shop compared to with the old.
I was a bodyman for 18yrs, spent 8 of those in a heavy truck shop working
with fibreglass and aluminum. Yes, aluminum does take a little more to work
with but only about 10-20% longer.
…and the idea of doubling the shop rate sounds like a cash grab.
…but I guess being that bodywork is probably the most under-appreciated,
under-paid trade you have to make up your losses somehow.
You are a fucking idiot if you think ford isnt going to aluminum body to
save money, have fun with your heinous fuckery that will ensue when you try
to do aluminum body work, you get a dent, you need a new panel period.
simple solution – don’t hit your truck with a sledgehammer
So when are you going to take 2 sledgehammer hits to a steel body truck to
verify the damage is the same? Not exactly an apples to apples comparison
here. I’ve been to fairs were smacking the old car with a sledgehammer was
done and the damage to flat panels was WAY worse with one hit than I saw
here.
WOW I’m actually surprised how hard he hit with a sledge hammer, and how
little damaged it took, consider steel would have buckled. I think the cost
they quoted was inflated tho, yea I can see more time to get it done, but I
think the repair to a steel bed would be about the same, specially if they
had to cut out the damage or spot welds to repair the panel.
but hey, I’m just a redneck, that a hammer, ducktape, paint and or a big
sticker can fix anything lol :-)
I hope the New ford Raptor isn’t made out of that stuff. Sounds like a
costly setup.
ah..perhaps a dumb question..could you not have simply walked into the
dealer and asked about damage repair without actually hittingdamaging the
truck? But, then I guess nobody would have watched the first part.
Why was the tail light replaced? Looked fine, if the mounts were broken
they probably could’ve been repaired. Not sure what difference aluminum
makes when all they did was throw filler onti it lol.