The latest salvo in the Chevrolet versus Ford pickup truck battle has been fired by Chevy, and it's a big one. Chevrolet claims that while performing standard benchmark performance testing, in which the company puts competitor vehicles through the same tests as its own trucks to determine how they perform, it discovered that the stamped aluminum used for the 2016 F-150's bed was susceptible to damage from dropped items.
Chevrolet produced a series of tests that it says simulate real-world conditions that truck owners might encounter. One involved dropping an 825-lb. load of 55 landscaping blocks about into the beds of both the Silverado and the F-150 from 5 ft. above the bed to simulate receiving a load from a skid loader at a job site. In 12 trials, Chevy says that the Silverado received only minor scratches and dents, while the F-150's bed was punctured every time, on the order of 4.3 punctures per trial.
A second test was much more mundane and frankly a little more believable — it simulated a 32-lb. empty steel Snap-On toolbox accidentally sliding off the truck bed's side rail and into the bed. In that test, the Silverado was dented 12 out of 14 times, and received "pinhole" punctures in two trials. The F-150 bed floor was dented once and punctured 13 times during the toolbox test.
(More of the story on PickupTrucks.com)
