We don’t get the mighty F-150 in Europe, but we do have the Ranger, which is one of the most popular pick-up trucks on the market.
The new generation is determined to be a off-road tool so the testing is very rigorous. Built from the ground up to be the toughest, smartest, most versatile and most capable Ranger ever, the truck is being subjected to more physical and virtual testing than ever before.
The next-gen Ford Ranger is being put through its paces across some of the toughest terrain around the world to, not only ensure it’s capable and customer ready, but that it also meets Ford’s stringent world-class quality, reliability and durability standards.
So far, next-generation Ranger testing has covered around 10,000km of desert driving, the equivalent of 1,250,000km of customer driving, and the equivalent of 625,000km of rugged off-road durability testing at maximum load capacity, and testing is continuing around the world. But even before the first prototypes hit the road for testing, Ford’s engineers subjected next-gen Ranger to thousands of hours of computer simulations and thousands more of real-world simulations in labs, covering everything from aerodynamics to component and structure durability.
Some of these tests are deemed too rigorous for humans to endure, so computer simulations and robotics are used to replace humans in cases like the extreme ‘squeak and rattle’ rig where the pickup’s suspension and whole body is exposed to punishing test cycles that are repeated 24/7.
