New tow ratings for 2015 Ford F-150 level the playing field for truck buyers

Ford is right to be proud of the towing and carrying capacity of its new, lighter, 2015 F-150 pickup. But there’s more to the new numbers than meets the eye. It isn’t just that Ford has new towing and hauling numbers to go along with an all-new truck. As the last holdout from new test standards released last year, Ford’s announcement effectively led to new hauling and towing ratings across the auto industry that should finally provide consumers with truly comparable data.

After decades of Wild West braggadocio, in which automakers continually increased their pickups’ tow ratings based proprietary tests that highlighted their trucks’ strengths, the Society of Automotive Engineers stepped in last year to try to level the playing field—and provide ratings that consumers could use to realistically compare trucks among different manufacturers.

GM released its new Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups in 2013 with relatively lower ratings based on the new tests. Chrysler was set to do the same for the Ram pickup, until Ford came out and said it wouldn’t change the ratings of its existing trucks. Thus, Ford wouldn’t follow the new standards until it introduced the redesigned F-150.

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With its new turbocharged 325-hp, 2.7-liter EcoBoost V6 engine, the new F-150 can carry 2,250 pounds and tow up to 8,500 pounds. While the old F-150 with its 5.0-liter V8 engine can tow a maximum of 9,400 pounds in Super Crew form, the new 2.7-liter V6 gets impressively close for an engine with half of the V8’s displacement. Ford has not released payload and towing specs for the new F-150 with a V8 or the 3.5-liter turbocharged EcoBoost V6. Note that in the current F-150 Super Crew, that EcoBoost engine choice has the highest tow ratings, beating out either of the available V8s.

In a press release, Ford says the improvements come thanks to a 700-pound weight savings from switching the F-150 to an all-aluminum body.

The new truck will also offer a downsized 3.5-liter (non-turbo) V6 engine in the 2015 F-150 that produces 283 hp and 255 lb.-ft. of torque. With that engine, Ford says, the F-150 has maximum payload and tow ratings of 1,910 and 7,600 pounds, respectively, though it did not specify what cab, bed, and drive configurations would be available with this engine.