Ranger performs well in IIHS crash tests

[Mustang2Ranger]

Thanks for posting guys, good info/pics/videos

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[rangerdanger]

 

[Rick - Saber]

I felt bad seeing those nice new Rangers getting smashed up. Good to know it gets high marks for safety. I have not driven much at night in the Ranger yet. The lights are definitely better than the ones on my old Jetta. Thanks for posting.

 

[Hambone437]

I felt bad seeing those nice new Rangers getting smashed up. Good to know it gets high marks for safety. I have not driven much at night in the Ranger yet. The lights are definitely better than the ones on my old Jetta. Thanks for posting.

Better seeing those Rangers getting smashed up then mine! I too am glad to see the Ranger got high marks. Honestly I was a little uneasy buying this truck before knowing it’s crash rating. Good job Ford!

 

[TacoHawkRanger]

Better seeing those Rangers getting smashed up then mine! I too am glad to see the Ranger got high marks. Honestly I was a little uneasy buying this truck before knowing it’s crash rating. Good job Ford!

That worry crossed my mind for a brief second, but a cursory look at the international Ranger showed that it was a well designed platform in regards to safety. It is good to see the actual results looking so good though!

 

[HenryMac]

Our Boy Done Good....

Nice comparison of crash testing results: Nissan Pathfinder, Toyota Tacoma, Ford Ranger and the No It's Not A Truck Honda Ridgeline.

 

[BHunted]

They didn't test this one....

 

[Glocker]

I don't know if these have been posted before, but they are interesting to see!

 

[tjanok]

I find it intresting the battery remains intact, the sync screen still happily displays after the front end is basically gone lol.

 

[AzScorpion]

That's just painful to watch a brand new Ranger get destroyed.

 

[IdahoRanger]

It looks to me like the passenger compartment holds up well in those videos. The side pole hit makes a pretty good intrusion into the driver though and the passenger overlap hit doesn't look as good as the driver side overlap hit.

 

[Administrator]

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[mtsoxfan]

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Wonder what a Ranger would look like with crash bars removed or trimmed????

 

[P. A. Schilke]

Hi Folks,

Another back story. I had just cast aside my Trainee wings after a two year training period. In early 1974 Ford Light Truck reorganized to a totally separate group to continue the forward model Econoline. I would be part of the engineers that would continue support of the F-Series. I had supported Econoline with carryover F Series engine mounts for which I was responsible. I handed off the Econoline part which would continue using the F-Series design but with different tunning. Fair enough! However I was to be part of the first full vehicle crash test. I had only seen films of crash tests, so to actually be there for the "big event" was quite exciting...just to see and hear the impact of a full frontal impact. So there is a lot of standing around behind impact plastic shielding near the barrier into which the Econoline prototype would be pulled. I digress for a moment to indicated the crash prep calls for a lot of instrumentation internal mounting of high speed cameras as well as high speed cameras in the pit. The fuel tanks are drained and stoddard fluid is used in place of gasoline. Stoddard fluid is a hydrocarbon based cleaning fluid and has similar density to gasoline without the volatility of gasoline. Ok back on topic...So the alarms sound the winch cable starts to move and all of a sudden all the cameras, spot lights etc swithch on an within a blink of an eye here comes the Econoline at about 30 mph. CRASH...into the wall and a brief moment later the stoddard fluid was sprayed all over the place... unfortunately the hot spotlights set off the stoddard fluid and the whole pit and the Econoline prototype were engulfed in flames...not a planned or anticipated event. The crash guys fought with the 20 lb extinguishers until the fire truck got there. The head of reprographics was in tears as all his cameras burned up in the blaze. However there were some parts of flim that were unbelievably salvaged. Later when we reviewed these films it was shown the front frame horns collapsed in a parallelogram and the driveshaft punched into and ripped a huge gash in the fuel tank, Since this was phase one level prototype it was back to the drawing board to redesign the frame and the fuel tank as well as add a crash shield to protect the fuel tank. Saw many more crashes during the career but none matched the "excitement" of that prototype Econoline crash. Frame and Fuel engineers did a good job and later Econoline crashes were uneventful...

Also as a result the fire truck and crew were now standing by for all crashes of cars and trucks. Eventually the fire suppression system was reengineered and upgraded to handle any such events and I believe stodard fluid was replaced with an inert substance..do not recall what that substance was or is...

Best,
Phil Schilke
Ranger Vehicle Engineering
Ford Motor Co. Retired

 

[Rviator]

Interesting write up Phil, thanks again for all your backstories and keep them coming. Stoddard fluid is also used in the aviation industry as a substitute for jet fuel in certain testing. It is essentially dry cleaning fluid.

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