My boat just passed my truck?

[chuck & lori]

While watching the Steelers finally show some offense today I saw Ford's commercial for the "New F-150". You know the one where you realize your boat is passing your TV on the way to the lake. According to the ad it has some standard feature to help control sway. Anybody look into this? What has this truck got that the old one didn't? Or is this just hype? Thanks
Go Steelers!

[JohnB]

Yes the new 2009 F150 has both Tow Command and a new feature called Sway control. And what they call AdvanceTrac® with RSC® (Roll Stability ControlTM)

They have a yaw sensor in the truck, when the truck and TT start swaying they start braking the left then right side of the truck to compensate for the sway effects. Sort of like traction control does but both tires on the one side brake and in time with the yaw sensors to keep the truck straight and dampen down the sway effects while the TV is reducing speed.

Here see this video from Ford showing how it works.
http://www.fordvehicles.com/2009f150/

Listen to the intro funky music, then hit "semi towing corridor" Then once that river wash bed bounce test is over the F150 comes up. Then.... hit on the links for "Trailer Brake Controller" next to the passenger side and then "Trailer Sway Control" on the drivers side. It shows how Tow Command and Sway control work.

Here is the 2009 F150 manual. 2009 F150 manual You have to fill in the year/model. Around page 280 they talk about the Sway control

This feature is an enhancement, but a good WD hitch and anti sway hitch is still needed IMHO.

I guess Dodge has something similar but according to Ford not as good. Naturally....

That river bed test was really rough road. The Toyota did not fair out to well. Chevy was not great either. Again Ford was doing the tests.

John

[emam]

Is this only available with the F-150?

Seems sort of silly to come out with technology like this and only offer it on a vehicle that doesnt have that much tow capacity unlike the F-250 or 350

[Sunline Fan]

Originally Posted by emam

Seems sort of silly to come out with technology like this and only offer it on a vehicle that doesnt have that much tow capacity unlike the F-250 or 350

Wouldn't be the first time they did something silly...

Just heard on the news tonight that they hope to have the new Taurus in showrooms by summer. It seems like they need to fire the transmission engineer so they can actually get in gear and get them to showrooms by March! It seems to me that customers would see the vehicles at the auto show, like them, and want to buy it. They should take orders right there.

Jon

[nickster60]

Enam
I think it is offered in the F-150 becuase it doesnt have the towing capacity. If you own a F-250 or F-350 you have something heavy to tow. I own a f-150 it is a nice truck but it drives and handles more like a car. It tows ok but I prefer the Dodge. If they are going to offer the extra tow capacity with F-150 they better cover there fannys. You know some idiot will be towing there boat down the highway at 90 mph.

[henryj]

Actually the new F150 has some pretty impressive numbers--if you check the right option boxes--and the 5.4L with 3.73 axle will out tow a 5.4 F250 with 3.73, but it will also ride rough solo and suck gas like the F250.

Manufacturers like to advertise the relatively meaningless "tow rating". it is easy to inflate because it includes only the driver and no other cargo in a pretty basic truck. So in the last few years we've seen tow ratings for 1/2 tons jump over 10,000 lb. To use the new F150's numbers as just one example--it's tow rating actually ranges between a meager 5100 lb. and 11,300 lb. RV dealers love numbers like this: "You got an 09 F150? It'll tow 11,000 lb. no sweat!" What they don't tell you is that only two properly optioned F150s have LT tires, HD suspension and rear axle, and a payload close to 3000 lb. with a GVWR of 8200 lb. This package is only available on 8 ft. regular cabs and 8 ft. supercabs and only they can handle the 1000+ lb. tongue weight some of us are working with on our TTs. Boats tend to have much lighter tongues and it's no coincidence that TV ads touting huge tow ratings picture 1/2 tons towing boats rather than 5th wheels.

The big 3 are in the habit of leap frogging each others trucks when a new one is introduced and Ford has done a good job including the brake controller and anti sway. None of this is rocket science nor particularly unique--you just need ABS and a computer--and will likely show up in other models. But for a year or two Ford will be ahead and that's good for consumers.

Regardless of technology, we'll still need wd hitches and at the high end they tend to be all-in-one so I would also look at Ford's system as being a good additional safety factor, but not a replacement for anti sway at the hitch.

Henry

[JohnB]

Why did Sway control only end up in the 2009 F150?

I think it was more a design tooling issue for the new updated truck. Since they where upgrading they added both the Tow Command and Sway control at the same time. It’s a selling point or at least an advertising point.

In 2005, Tow Command came to the F250 and up trucks. Yet the F150 didn’t. Why? You need a good brake controller in a F150 just as you do in a F250?

I think it was the war of the Super Duty trucks Verse the 2500HD’s of GM. Fords new model had a integrated brake controller, GM didn’t as that time.

I would expect, hope, that when the next F250 update comes, sway control comes with it too. It’s older news then but still the F250 can use it just the same as you can haul a lot more TT with a F250.

All the big 3 are squeezing more horses and torque out of an engine now a days and still stick it on a 1/2 ton suspension. They are almost there now where they have more engine to pull then should be carried on that light of a suspension. At least for TT’s.

11,000# or even 10,000# of TT on a ½ ton pickup, that is not a good combination.

[chuck & lori]

So Ford is using a traction/stability control system set up to respond to the dynamics of towing--pretty clever

Does the integrated brake controller work like the Prodigy? Is it integrated into the stability control system?

John- Are the suspensions, brakes, etc. not keeping up with the engines on the new trucks? The commercials tout beefier frames, etc. I would think that the engineers (and the lawyers ) would not let one part exceed the limits of the others Just a guess

Thanks for the replies. I knew you guys would know