The reality of aluminum body panels.

[MossRoad]

How many accidents do y'all have in a year? Been driving for 40 years and still never had one.

I've had three or four. 1st one was 100% my fault. I got distracted by a pretty girl I knew, went to wave at her, looked back in front of me and someone had stopped to turn into the exit of a market. Didn't expect them to turn into the exit, but I shouldn't have taken my eyes off the road in front of me. 10mph rear end collision. I hit a early 70s 4dr Impala. My Toyota Tercel didn't stand a chance! Wasn't wearing a seat belt. Hit my head on the windshield. Saw stars. Took out my front bumper, grill, radiator, hood and both front fenders. A whopping $1100 in damage around 1980! :laughing: All it did to the Impala was wipe the rust off the bumper. Other accidents were twice people turned left in front of my on my motorcycle and I hit their right sides. Nowhere to go. Ouch! One was a guy turned right in front of me onto a side street, did a U turn on the side street, looked right at me and t-boned me in the right side. It was his 4th or 5th wreck in a couple weeks. He went to jail. That's it for 38 years. :confused3:

 

[MossRoad]

Nope. I just think there is a lot of hand wringing for little reason going on here.

It ain't you that's gonna get you. Its some distracted punk kid looking at pretty girls.

 

[TomSeller]

It ain't you that's gonna get you. Its some distracted punk kid looking at pretty girls.

I noticed that. She must have been quite something.

 

[JDgreen227]

How many accidents do y'all have in a year? Been driving for 40 years and still never had one.

I began driving in 1967, was rear ended in my personal vehicles FOUR TIMES in the span of a five-year period and none of them were my fault. Drove medium duty straight trucks for a living for 31 years and got hit head-on in one by a semi at low speed in city traffic (1987) when he slid across the center line on a downgrade...again, not my fault. Have not had any accidents since.

 

[wawajake]

I agree...much ado about nothing. But the jinxing part was saying you had never had an accident.



GM is already securing aluminum for it's next generation of trucks. When that happens, making an Al truck will be the best decision EVER for many of the current naysayers.

Actually you have not been reading the posts of what you deem is "naysayers" then because my position (concerning weight gains Ford claims)has been that GM (and Ram) had already engineered a lighter than equivalent optioned Ford , so Ford was only catching up and had only actually achieved a 90 lb advantage, and that when GM eventually goes to Aluminum they will be capable to ,have a MUCH lighter truck than Ford. As someone who drives snow and salt drenched roads for 5 months a year my decision on less rust resistant vehicles is a priority........(my wife had a plastic bodied Saturn for a decade).....but I am realisitc about body work costs and thanks to Roadhunter, and his Forbes article confirmation, see my thinking in regard to those costs are correct. I look forward to the day that GM or Ram joins the manufacturers like Landrover that have been using aluminum for decades , and hope Ford eventully gets it right, but their exaggerations need to be tempered with both sides of the debate and that is what this thread did.....unfortunately some of the Ford fans take these debates personal.........I guess if your close minded that will happen.

 

[Garandman]

Other accidents were twice people turned left in front of my on my motorcycle and I hit their right sides. Nowhere to go. Ouch! side. It was his 4th or 5th wreck in a couple weeks. He went to jail. That's it for 38 years. :confused3:

Obviously your pipes weren't loud enough! JK [Left turners account for 52% of motorcycle accidents].

 

[aczlan]

I think that ship has sailed. It seems to me vehicle repair costs have already gone up significantly with unibody, complex aero shapes, crumple zones, multiple air bags, electronics, etc. The potential increases from use of aluminum seems minor in comparison. Look at it this way - I recently saw information that indicated the traffic fatality rate has gone down by a factor of 10 in the last 60 years. Looks like a bargain.

My mother in law hit a deer last year and it cost close to $2000 to replace the plastic front end on her vehicle...

Aaron Z

 

[Ford850]

Just saw this commercial and it does have a valid point....but only if you plan on sinking your truck deep into the ocean.

Looks like aluminum won't ever make it to GM trucks because their engineers demand rolled steel.


Incredible Thinking in the 2015 GMC Sierra | Submarine: http://youtu.be/gfyXy1utRcY

That was the add from GM, 2 years ago. They were trying to improve the bed material after going too thin and soft on the previous model, causing all sorts of horror stories of wrinkled and dented beds. About that same time, 2 years ago, Ford had test trucks in the field with aluminum beds. They supposedly made several improvements to the design and material due to those tests.

 

[jejeosborne]

That was the add from GM, 2 years ago. They were trying to improve the bed material after going too thin and soft on the previous model, causing all sorts of horror stories of wrinkled and dented beds. About that same time, 2 years ago, Ford had test trucks in the field with aluminum beds. They supposedly made several improvements to the design and material due to those tests.

This add is the current add they are running today. They had a similar one or the same one years ago?

 

[Diamondpilot]

Just saw this commercial and it does have a valid point....but only if you plan on sinking your truck deep into the ocean. Looks like aluminum won't ever make it to GM trucks because their engineers demand rolled steel. Incredible Thinking in the 2015 GMC Sierra | Submarine: http://youtu.be/gfyXy1utRcY

This is nothing new. GM is and will always be very conservative. They are in willing to take chances and just wait 2 generations to adopt what others are doing. Some think this is a smart business practice, maybe it is, but to me it's not!

They all will be using aluminum in 10 years.

Chris