F-150 Raptor Owners Report Frame Problems – Design Flaw?
Jason Lancaster | Jul 05, 2011 | Comments 50
Ford Raptor enthusiast’s forum RaptorForumz.com has an interesting thread that show photos of F-150 Raptors with bent frames, which owners allege are a design defect.
UPDATE: One of the F150 owners told me that the frame was bent on an infamous “kicker” on the road between Barstow and Vegas. You can see video of this kicker below.
The frame on this Raptor F-150 is bent - was it owner abuse or bad design?
Evidently, this Raptor owner did some high-speed driving on off-road trails…similar to what you see in this Ford marketing video:
According to the forum post, numerous drivers who have driven aggressively off-road have ended up with bent frames. These drivers are upset because they feel their trucks should be able to handle the trails they drove without damage – after all, Ford shows this type of driving in all the Raptor promotional videos.
Even worse, many Ford dealers are refusing to repair these bent frames because they’re alleging vehicle abuse. Ford dealers – and Ford Motor Company, by proxy – argue that no one should ever jump their truck, drive at high speeds off road, etc., because this is unnecessary and will definitely lead to damage.
SO, it all boils down to this: Raptor owners want to drive their trucks hard, but Ford doesn’t want to pay for damage caused by vehicle abuse. Who’s right?
More photos of Raptor F-150 frame damage and both arguments below.
Ford Raptor Frame Damage Pics
These pictures speak for themselves – all of these F-150 Raptors have frame damage, and all of these truck owners allege that they weren’t doing anything that Ford isn’t showing in their Raptor marketing materials.
Note that the distance between the bed and the cab is larger at the top of the bed than at the bottom.
This F-150 Raptor owner has documented the bent frame rail on his truck - note the chipping paint and the obvious bulge in the rail, not to mention that the bump stop is no longer aligned properly
Because this Raptor's frame is bent, the rear suspension bump stop is no longer aligned correctly
Obstacle That F-150 Owner Says Is Responsible for Frame Damage
Here’s a video taken by one of the owners who’s Raptor suffered frame damage. At about the 1:32 mark, you’ll see the Raptor go over a ‘kicker’ between Barstow and Vegas. My initial reaction was ‘that will damage a frame’, but the more I think about it the more I believe the truck should be able to handle it. Please watch the video and share your opinion below.
Owner’s Argument: Ford Should Honor Warranty for Heavy Off-Road Use
Many Raptor owners feel that Ford must honor their warranty and repair this frame damage because:
- Ford advertises this capability in their marketing materials – owners have a rational reason to assume that the trucks can withstand this type of off-road use
- Jeep’s Rubicon – a similar vehicle in terms of advertised off-road ability – has an excellent off-road use warranty policy, and Rubicon owners are generally very happy with the coverage they receive
- Ford merely needed to increase frame strength to cure this problem.
Ford’s Argument: Warranty Doesn’t Cover Vehicle Abuse
Ford dealers encounter vehicle abuse on a regular basis, and it’s almost never covered under vehicle warranty. This is because:
- It’s impossible to design a vehicle that can stand up to any and all abuse – a line has to be drawn somewhere, and there’s no warranty coverage once you cross the line
- What rational real-world use requires high speed driving on off-road trails? Sure, it’s fun, but is it ever necessary? Raptor owners aren’t entitled to do whatever they want with their trucks and then expect us to repair it for free.
- In the words of one dealer “It takes a lot to bend a frame…a heck of a lot. There’s no way that this isn’t excessive use.”
So there you have it – both sides of this issue. What do you think – Is this a Ford frame defect, or were these Raptor owners careless?
**Special thanks to Mickey for sharing this link**
Filed Under: Auto News
FIRST: If they do not want to cover this, They have to PROVE without a doubt that the vehicle was “Abused”, Which is nearly impossible, they can only assume. but far as the question to Should they cover it? YES! As it was states in the article It was designed for off road use, If your product cant handle the job then it needs to be replaced or discontinued. No difference than a tractor breaking and denying warranty because your Plowing “too hard”. It obviously could be a safety problem.
“Born in Baja”? I think not!
Try “Born in Haha”!
i had a tacoma it it hole rocks big ones it never had a frame bent i did burn up the clutch once was still drivable. other then that ran great. did get a air cool clutch. but trade it in for the tundra. miss the tacoma.
Thanks Jason…… Article is great. Now Ford will have to do like Toyota and get a fix for it. Toyota sat on the bed bounce for so long. I expect the same from Ford. Please everyone don’t drop the Ford emblem in the dirt it may bend.
Jason also your Ford marketing video didn’t show up on my computer. Maybe my computer having bent issues too.
This is hilarious and messed up at the same time.
Wait they show the Raptor Baja’ing on TV! are you telling me Ford and TV has lied to me? Say it isint so! lol. Ford owners have been giving crap to Tundra owners for years for a supposed “weak frame” cause the Tundra frame flexes, but the Tundra has never had a problem besides the bounce. I find it ironic that FORD is the one with the frame issues now and its a major problem. HAHA!
The Toy frame can’t handle these hits let alone the Maine winter road. You can actual hear the frames rotting ie the frame rot recall! Someday the tundra will grow up!
Tom,
Interesting thought, not accurate at all, but interesting! We have many members who are from Maine that would disagree with you.
-Tim
cater – I think I agree with you, but my thought is, what about the guy that takes it too far? I mean it’s possible to be stupid off-road and cause major damage…that shouldn’t be covered under warranty.
Still, I have to agree that Ford can’t advertise this capability and then start getting nit-picky.
Dez – LOL – good one. Sucks for these Ford owners, however.
Thunder Road – I think you make a good point too – smaller trucks like the Tacoma and the Jeep handle this sort of thing well.
Mickey – Thank YOU! I forgot to officially say thanks for the tip in the article, so let me do that now! 🙂
I don’t expect Ford to cover this after I saw the video of the kicker…that’s a pretty reckless thing to do in a brand new pickup. I certainly wouldn’t do it.
Finally, thanks for the heads-up on the video not showing up. I tried a new method and it isn’t universal.
Jamison – Word.
Josh – The irony is pretty amazing – Toyota is ridiculed for weak frames, yet the crown jewel of the Ford truck line-up has frame complaints.
Ford should pay to replace/or fix the frame. This is proof-positive that stiffer is not always stronger.
That is why the powerwagon is a 2500. Ford should have made the raptor a F250 with the powerstroke diesel like GM is goona do with a duramax and 2500 frame.
You’re welcome Jason. Anything I can do to help. You’re website I like the most. It maynot be the glamorous as some others but that’s just eye candy. It doesn’t get to the nitty gritty.
Sorry what I meant the glamorous ones doesn’t get to the nitty gritty.
Ford should unquestionably cover the frame damage. As far as I’m concerned, there was no ‘off-road’ driving in that video at all. In fact, it was a dirt road that had clearly been graded. That road is far better than some dirt roads around here that carry county road designations. If there was a cattle grate on it the road is fairly well traveled and maintained. ‘Off road’ does not mean ‘dirt road’, it means ‘no road’ or ‘trail’ at best.
Ford’s own marketing advises buyers to ‘know your vehicle… before high-speed off roading’ and shows the Raptor airborne! If you advise people the truck is capable of high-speed driving and show it airborne you are implicitly guaranteeing the truck can peform at that level.
Just like Toyota had to ultimately back down about tailgates that can’t handle rolling a round bale off of them Ford will have to eat this one for building a truck that couldn’t do what they promised it could.
Now somebody make the same high speed run in the Tundra and show us what happens to your truck after you hit the grate and the kicker. If Toyota was smart they’d get a truck out there themselves, film it and beat the hell out of Ford with a viral internet campaign.
Fully boxed frames are better, my arse!
Maybe box frames are those who are squares? LOL….. Had to.
Its just too bad that no one see’s the issue here. Ford cannot hide from this one simple fact. All the frames,(ALL THE FRAMES) are bent in the exact….. same….. spot….
No one would argue that a firewall not stopping a fire from burning you to death is the owners problem. Why a frame not doing what it should be doing? It does not matter what was happening when the part failed. This is not an isolated incident. Hey Ford! I still want one. How about you fix the issue with a little steel before I decide to take my $50,000 (fiftey-thousand dollars!!!) elsewhere eh?
After watching the video clip I have more questions than answers.
How fast were you driving? What was the gradient of the jump? gradient of the road when landing? Did the suspension have time to fully extend down before hitting the road? Which tires landed first? All four tires hit at the same time or did it land rear first? Did one side of the frame bend more than the other side? Was the bed empty? In the ford videos they were driving the truck to its limit, why didn’t they have bent frames? Also, the speed of the ford videos were slowed down and sped up at times. Could there be some defective Fox shocks out there allowing the truck to bottom out to easily?
It’s a stock F-150 frame for the Raptor, once it bottoms out on the def and the limit of the Fox shocks have been reached, it’s a stock F-150. All woops and jumps need to be looked at carefully beforehand, so that they can be hit at the correct speed, angle and pull off the gas at the right time to get the landing perfect.
I’ve had my Raptor in the air 22 times, (yes, I count them) and don’t have a bent frame. Unless my mother-in-law sits down on my tailgate, I’m not too worried about it.
As for the Ford video you have to take that up with Ford why it goes fast and slows down. All I can say it’s marketing. The same goes for manufacturer’s. They will show you the best side of it. For the raptor in the video the truck doesn’t stop long enough to see if that bend in the frame happened. Even if it did do you seriuosly think Ford will let everyone know about it? That could be why they have the fix but it’s costly. You klnow as well as I that manufacturer’s will always take the cheap way out by ignoring it. Same happen for me on my 06 Silverado. The headliner came down 11x I had to replace it. GM knew about it but avoided the fix. The weight of the truck coming down on the bump stop (which could be the shock failing) is causing the frame to bend. As for both sides being equally damaged you will have to ask the owners in that forum about that. I would believe it’s both sides because of the bump stop. I would agree about checking the area you will be driving before hand to see what’s ahead of you. Trent I can relate to that you don’t have the issue. The same for myself with the so called bed bounce. I don’t have it. Same for the tailgate, I don’t have that issue. I have an 07 CM with almost 113k miles on it. Still on original brake pads and shocks etc.
Very dissapointed in Ford. Hope they fix this.
The logic in some of these comments is hilarious. By the standards mentioned above: My mother is responsible for giving me weak bones if I break a leg jumping off a building, the manufacturer is responsible to pay for defects in craftsmanship (warranty) even if that “defect in craftsmanship” is a direct result of use beyond the design limits (so Sony owes me a new TV for burn-in that results from watching too many widescreen movies), 10 people out of thousands with a bent frame means the entire production line is junk and a $50,000 purchase entitles me to a limitless lack of responsiblity. Idiots like you people are one of the reasons why cars and car insurance are so expensive. They show Dodge’s driving off road with George Washington at the wheel, so that means it’s perfectly legal and warrantble if I off road my Challenger in a revolutionary costume, right? They show the Mustang doing donuts so that means I can whip donuts all day long and Ford buys my tires and differential when they fail, right? YOU HAVE TO PAY TO PLAY and everything has a limit. This video proves that some jagoffs found that limit; NOT that the Raptor is a weak piece of false-advertising. Besides, I’d expect a little more understanding of frame weakness from a Toyota truck website!!!! lol!!!!!
@Shaner
So companies that say one thing and their product that does another, should have no responsibility what so ever hu? So if I buy a gun and the manufacturer says it can shoot a 30-06 and I try to do so and the gun blows up, no injury to me just the gun, should the manufacturer give me a new one? I would say yes because it was advertized as being able to do so, and that’s taking care of the customer.
Now Ford advertized their Raptor as being a Baja truck, they even ran it in Baja’s stock class. I think Ford should fix these ones then put out a disclaimer saying “we fake our commercials to sell more trucks to idiots who believe us, even though we needed money from the government to survive”. I’m paraphrasing of course.
And as for the Toyota frame comment; Toyota took care of those customers with the frame problems and fixed them. And the Tundra has only had a bed “bounce” issues which hasn’t hurt a thing. Nice try but save your trolling for other forums full of people who don’t know anything…like the Raptor one!
Are these people Baja racers? No.. So why are they trying to drive like one. You can’t just go out drop 50,000-60,000 on a truck made for offroading, go drive 150 mph and hit a jump without any experience taking a jump and expect the thing to take it. Obviously in the video this guy was going WAY to fast for offroading.
If I buy a fender guitar and I light it on fire because they showed a video of Jimi Hendrix lighting it on fire Fender’s not going to replace my guitar for me. You have to have some sense and realize that the things you pay for aren’t designed to be idiot-proof, if you want to take a risk and drive you car 200 mph over a jump then that’s your concern, don’t go complaining to your car company when the thing snaps in half.
@ Josh
Seems to me the truck did complete the stock baja without this issue..? Also seems to me all this damage is the result of 10 trucks on the SAME COURSE from the SAME KICKER JUMP. If you did research other than mickey mouse blogs and youtube vids you’d find that thousands of these trucks have taken more abuse than anything a standard pickup can handle WITHOUT bending the frame. Magazines, government contractors, private contractors and factory engineering teams alike. Ford marketed it as a pickup with off-road capabilites beyond anything offered elsewhere in the 1/2 ton truck world. I watched the same commercials you did and I sure don’t recall Ford saying these trucks could take kickers as tall as the tires at 80mph. Your analogy is so full of fail it’s hilarious. Are you sure you aren’t the troll? lol. You’re right though. The moment these trucks hit the dirt the frames just snapped. Maybe if Ford just built it and didn’t market it at all you would have to dig up some other completely ignorant argument about why some INDIVIDUALS were able to cause (a realistically small amount in the toy vehicle world) $700 worth of damage. Good job Josh, you should get with all the Jeep owners of the world and file a class action lawsuit. Hell, what’s more off-road than a Jeep? They NEVER BREAK, RIGHT???? You can’t reason with the unreasonable
Shaner you have to learn what false advertisement is. You don’t think these Ford owners paid to play? You laugh at the posters here but look at your comparisons. Oranges, apples, and eggs. You Ford clowns said the same to Toyota’s Tundra’s camshaft failure. Nothing like spending 50k on a truck to ride offroad and use it for street life. Now you proven another kind of idiot that buys Ford.
This is hilarious. People abuse their vehicle, then come crying wanting it fixed. Say what?
So if I bought a brand new 5.0 Mustang, raced it and blew the motor, I should expect Ford to replace it because that’s what you do with a sports car?
Yeah, didn’t think so.
Everyone knows why there are the disclaimers on advertisements that state “do not attempt at home”, “professional driver on closed course”, right?
And while this does appear disappointing, there are limits to even the most hard core off-road machine, or drag car. You exceed those, you pay the price.
And for those complaining about the frame, lets see a Tundra, Silverado, Titan or Tacoma do this, over these road courses, at these speeds and come out unscathed. Not going to happen, sorry.
I’m still trying to figure out how Toyota owners can say anything, and about anybody. You have the worst truck on the road (including Nissan).
The owners need to convince me the damage is not from abuse, before I assume it’s a manufacturer’s defect.
Ford has a proven track record. They have earned the benefit of the doubt.
Toyota also has a proven track record too. And that’s why no self respecting man would ever be caught dead in one.
texmln – Well said.
Chris – That’s a good point too. It’s hard to say that there’s not a frame design issue when the frame bends the same way every time…if the vehicles were being abused, they would all have different damage. Great argument.
Trent – I think you make a good point too. A little caution can go a long way.
Shaner – Your common sense approach to this question is entertaining and appreciated. However, I’d like to point out that we haven’t been critical of Ford for this. As you say, Toyota has had frame problems too. Far be it for me or anyone at TundraHQ to talk smack about this problem. We’re just presenting the news and trying to voice both sides of the issue.
Justin – I agree that most stock trucks wouldn’t handle that kicker. I’m not sure I agree that it’s abuse, but you make a good point as always.
Joel – Excuse me, but if you want to talk about Ford’s “proven track record” you should watch this video first: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAFdEkzgnIQ
The fact is, all manufacturers have embarrassing problems in their past. Ford is no exception.
TO ALL – I see both sides.
I think Ford has pushed the envelope in their advertising a little bit, because they’ve clearly tried to capitalize on the notion that the Raptor can run a baja race course with no modification. They also charge a very pretty penny for this capability.
I also agree that vehicle manufacturers have to draw a line somewhere…while this may or may not be an example, any reasonable person will agree that Ford isn’t responsible for everything bad that every happens in one of their pickups.
All I can say is, I’m glad I’m not one of these owners or one of the people working for Ford who has to make this decision.
I disagree with most postings on here. I think the Raptor is just a F150 in disguise is all, not much difference at all. Also, the raptor in the video is definitely going to fast for conditions on those jumps. I would guess going 55 mph or more for sure and at most should be going 40 mph over those jumps thus NOT bottoming out the suspension then. Yah, the raptor might perform slightly better than a stock F150, but not much at all. 50K on a f150 in disguise is a joke. Go aftermarket at 1/2 the cost and get something 3 times better than a raptor. I guess the true tell sign would be to drive 3 raptors at the same speed the guy in the video was going and see if all 3 bend the frames and then do it in a stock f150 and see if those 3 f150’s have bent frames in same speed over same jumps.
@Shaner
I actually think the Raptor is probly the best F150 on the road, but your logic is still way off. A truck like the Raptor that is supposed to be this big awesome offroader should be able to make a kicker jump without a bent frame. I could see blowing a shock, breaking an axle, or some other mechanical part breaking. But a bent frame? The frame should not be the first thing to go on a truck, not just from a safety standpoint but from the sheer cost of having to fix something like that.
I owned a Jeep and wheeled the piss out of it, never bent a uni-body rail, I did break a CV though and even popped a tire off the bead but nothing as severe as a frame.
Same thing with my old Explorer, I wheeled the piss out of it too. I had to replace the ball joints twice, but never bent the frame.
My buddies Chevy Short wide, he blew shocks, bent the crap out of the body and went as far as breaking his output shaft while wheeling, guess what? He never bent the frame in that thing and he treated it much worse than one of those guys with the Raptors. And this was a Truck that was 30 years old at the time!
Of course everything has its limit but this doesn’t seem like abuse on the owner’s part, this looks like a design flaw that could easily be fixed before it became a major issue. Yeah its 10 guys right now, should Ford wait until there’s more before deciding that it might be a problem? Sure why not maybe it is just these 10 idiots, maybe more just haven’t claimed the problem yet, or maybe like most people who buy the Raptor it will never see off-road let alone dirt.
While I’m willing to admit, that particular point in the frame could potentially be a weak link (not an engineer), I personally don’t think this damage was fault of the truck persay, but more so the driver and taking the kicker at excessive speed. Heck even a poster in this thread, who owns a Raptor himself, and also owns a Gen II Tundra pre-runner (he’s a professional baja racer), admitted this was excessive for what the Raptor is. I read the entire 43 page thread, and there are good arguements from both sides (defect vs abuse). But none was more compelling, logical and factual than the post with bad companies quote (which is quoted in two sections).
http://www.raptorforumz.com/sh.....tcount=390
Jason: Pretty penny? These trucks aren’t too expensive compared to today’s full-size trucks. You can get a well equipped Raptor for roughly the same price of a Lariat (low $40K to mid $50K depending on equipment). So for its capabilities and features, I wouldn’t say it’s too expensive.
One thing with hitting these kickers is, the raptor’s suspension was designed to absorb bumps when airborne… The shocks have maybe half the travel or less on these trucks on the ground, they are designed to hit jumps… These can and will absorb that… That’s what it was designed for… Exactly what you see Ford doing in marketing vids etc… Hitting a kicker over a foot high at speeds around 60mph is an EXTREME impact to the rear of the truck…
“This is from ford raptorforum”
“Ok, I ran some numbers, and they are eye opening.
Assumptions:
The “kicker” or “dirt speed bump” is one Raptor tire diameter accross, and is shaped like two ramps joined together (like a flattened triangle).
Case #1:
Kicker height is 18″ (flattened to 12″ by your tires)
Truck speed is 60MPH (88 fps)
The bottom of the tire has to move up 12″ in .0166 seconds. this is an average speed of 60.24 ft/s
To generate this suspension speed, the truck would have to free fall 56 FEET!!!!! That’s an impressive number, but what does it mean?
It means that the truck is recieving an impact equavalent to the first 12″ of a 56 FOOT DROP WITH THE SUSPENSION ALREADY HALF COMPRESSED! My best guess is that the suspension acounts for about 6″ of that, the tires for maybe another 3-4″, the axle for some fraction of an inch, the truck vertical motion for another small fraction of an inch (no time to respond), and the rest? It all goes into deforming the frame by 1″-2″.
This also tells me that even if the frame were boxed in that area, or if it was 3 times thicker, it would still bend. Even if the frame was reinfored enough to hold, the next likely point of failure is the axle, which would bend, stranding you.
Case #2:
Kicker Height is 12″ (flattened to 9″ by the tires)
Truck speed is 45 MPH (66ft/s)
The bottom of the tire has to move up 9″ in .0221 seconds, an average speed of 33.94 ft/s vertical.
To generate this suspension speed, the truck would have to free fall about 18 feet! This is a MUCH less severe impact! More importantly, the impact is only 9″ long (insert obvious joke here). Additionally the truck may be able to absorb it without requiring metal to deform.
The suspension can absorb 6″, the tires their 3″, the axle a tiny bit, the truck can move upwards a bit more, and all you probably have is tortured bump stops.
So those of you who have jumped their Raptors (and the most vertical air I’ve seen is maybe 8-9 feet) and said they don’t have bent frames? This is because hitting an 18″ kicker at 60MPH is about 7 TIMES as severe. PLUS your suspension is fully extended when you jump, cushioning the fall better, unlike the speed bump example.
Conclusion? If you hit something like a speed bump or “kicker” taller than your available suspension travel, plus tire “squash”, at HIGH speed, you will bend metal.
The ONLY way to adress this issue is increase suspension travel to be greator than the intended acceptable “bump”. Or god forbid (*sniff), slow down. Reinforcing the frame will either fail to work (bend anyway), or cause something else to fail (like the axle).
Nobody designs trucks to withstand those forces (like the first foot of a 56 foot drop with already compressed suspension), that would be incredibly impractical (and they’d sell one a year at $300k). I do not believe there is a design flaw, I believe that somebody found a situation that exceeds its strength.
I would love to join in the next Raptor Run, jumps are fine, short gullies are fine, just look out for the big kickers when you are burnin’ up the dirt!”
So yah… Metal will bend when pushed beyond it’s limits….
Justin – I guess you’re right. It’s just a lot of money to spend to go bangin’ around in the desert.
Chris – Excellent comment – always a fan when math is involved. Thank you.
Jason: Oh I hear you. I don’t think it’s too much for a full-size truck, but think it’s a lot of doe to spend and beat the crap out of. While if I owned one, I’m sure I’d beat it up a little. But not sure I could bring myself to doing some of those things, at least in the first couple years.
I don’t know what these guys did….but I have run a motocross course and had my Raptor 5 feet in the air with a 300 pound topper and my frame isn’t bent?
Maybe I should go for 6 feet?
On the other hand Ford should look into this and make sure they strengthen the frame in that spot…now I have to worry I can’t do what I bought the truck for…
dang!
And the verdict is, USER ABUSE. Wow, from those videos and reading that entire thread, this was obviously the case.
http://www.autoblog.com/2011/0.....-claims-w/
Justin – I think that Ford was smart to present their case on AutoBlog like that, and I think you’re correct: this is more about abuse than quality.
I am the proud owner of a Raptor, no bent frame, fun to drive, go almost anywhere. Underline almost. People should realize this is a production truck and meant to please many types of driving. If you want a truck for jumping you need a custom truck with a tubular frame with cross supports and extra bracing plus the suspension to go with it. 12 inches of travel is fun not ridiculous. As for the Toyota owners Id be glad to buy a truck from Toyota but they still havent learned how to make one. To all those who love to 4-wheel tread lightly and have fun don’t be stupid
I will say that Ford does show the raptor “jumping”, but these are on low approach angle jumps that bring the truck down level.
If the people driving these trucks dont know how to hit a jump, ie. letting off the throttle before leaving the jump as to level the vehicle. Anyone whos every raced a sled, quad, bike can back me up on this.
So if you come down hard on the front end or back end unevenly, of course your gonna bend it.
If you look at every picture of bent frames, its almost always rear bumps stops being bent. This is cause by the front end coming down hard, therefore sling shoting the rear end into the ground.
Id say its not abuse or problems with frames, its idiots who dont know how to drive. I have an 05′ f150 supercrew, 100% stock even the tires, and ill admit it has been airborne more than once and its still straight as an arrow.
Kudos to FoMoCo for not being susceptible to these idiots that bent their Raptor frames.
It’s obvious abuse, and I’m surprised some people actually had to think about if those owners should be compensated. Ford didn’t advertise the truck slamming into “kickers” at over 60 mph.
When you’ve overloaded the suspension so much that the bump stop is half torn off the frame rails, and the frame is bent, well, then you should have pre-run the trail and slowed when nessasary, or SLOWED DOWN period. Don’t expect to take any factory built truck at 60+ MPH over trails that either you’ve never driven, or have absolutely no experience driving on, and not expect to damage the vehicle or cause a wreck.
Mickey- Absolute pathetic attempt to disdain Ford Raptors. I feel pity for you. You need to just accept that the Raptor is an off road capable, FACTORY built bad a** truck, like the Dodge Power Wagon.
Jason- Your partially right, but this has nothing to do with quality of the truck. Reread Chris’ statement regarding the physics involved and the massive loads the frames went through.
From the Raptor SVT Engineer-
“Basically, the core – the root cause – is that the vehicle is traveling too fast for the obstacle, and the truck is running out of travel. By a large margin. They’re going too fast for the obstacle by a large margin. The frame is not the first item to yield in that condition – despite what’s been theorized, the first thing when you do exceed the vehicle’s travel capability [is that] you have a certain safety zone where you will hit the bump stop and nothing will happen. If you hit that same obstacle at an even faster speed, then you will yield the jounce bumper cup – that’s the little piece of steel that holds the jounce bumper. If you hit that same obstacle at an even greater speed, then the next thing to go is the frame.”
“If you had an infinitely stiff frame… it would ‘donkey kick’ the rear of that truck really high into the air.”
That energy has to be absorbed somehow, and we actually went through a fairly detailed FMEA [Failure Mode and Effects Analysis], so if you do happen to far exceed the suspension’s capability, the safest thing for that vehicle is for the frame to yield. If you had an infinitely stiff frame, then what that would do is, the rear of that vehicle – the suspension – when that axle is going up so hard, so fast, it would ‘donkey kick’ the rear of that truck really high into the air. That’s a very undesirable condition.”
I couldn’t have explained this better. This is the reason why Hameedi is an engineer for a successful auto company, and the others who badmouth are sitting in their mom’s house behind a computer.
-Hunter
To comment on the fact that the trucks are all breaking at the same spot: That proves nothing.
Drop 14 guys off a tall roof the same way, and they will probably break the same certain bones in their legs almost every time. It doesn’t prove their legs are defective. It just proves that you were dropping them off a higher elevation than the manufacturer intended for them to be dropped.
Hunter – I don’t think Ford made a mistake in terms of design or quality here – the comments from Ford engineers and others explain why this happened and it makes perfect sense to me.
However, Ford deserves a tiny bit of blame here for promoting the Baja-like capabilities of the truck to such a degree that otherwise rational people expected the world.
On one hand, driving off-road at incredible speeds is risky and (in my opinion) foolish business unless you’ve got money to burn. On the other, Ford added a healthy price premium to this truck and justified it by advertising the incredible off-road ability. It’s a bit disingenious of Ford to push this back on the consumer…at least that’s what I think. Thanks for commenting. 🙂
Luke – Well said.
Well, I guess I can drive a Tundra at 70 mph and hope it stops before I go over the cliff. If not, then Toyota should fix the brakes for free, if I survive.
Point is, every automaker advertises their products beyond what its intended use is. I guess one could say it adds interest.
That’s where the fine print comes into play
“DO NOT ATTEMPT. PROFESSIONAL DRIVER”
Ford’s decision is fine with me and the other 500,000 people that bought the F-150.
Go buy a couple hockey pucks, shim up the the back of the bed, cosmetically fixed. Go hit the same kicker, you now have plenty of frame clearance for it.
would your frame bend if your just using it as a daily driver, to haul a little trailer, and going on a half mile trail no faster then 20mph?
“Performed on a closed track with professional drive: Do not attempt”
Ford made the legal exclusion and free from any liability because of that one line.
When I was a kid I used to get so mad at my Transformers because they didn’t do anything they did on TV. Welcome to the real world guys.
this truck was going close to 120 mph a toyota frame has never been raced at anywhere near this speed
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