When they say “Built Ford Tough” they aren’t kidding.

The new 2009 Ford F-150 is the latest Ford vehicle to earn the
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s “Top Safety Pick” award. With
the award, Ford Motor Company, including Volvo, adds to its leading
number of 16 IIHS “Top Safety Pick” ratings, further separating itself
from Honda’s second place tally of 13. IIHS awarded the F-150 its
highest rating for front and side impact tests and in evaluations of
seats and head restraints.

Ford engineered the new F-150 to also earn top ratings in the U.S.
government’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
tests to be conducted later this year. Ford has more IIHS Top Safety
Picks and government five-star safety-rated vehicles than any other
automaker.

The new F-150 also has been recognized as the one and only “Truck of
Texas” by the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) – the sixth
consecutive year a Ford truck has won top honors – as well as
PickupTrucks.com’s Best Overall Half-Ton Pickup.

The Toughest Truck

The F-150’s legendary toughness contributes not only to its
durability and capability but its safety as well. The 2009 F-150 has an
all-new hydroformed steel body structure – including industry-first use
of tubular ultra-high-strength lighter weight steel that offers top
performance and contributes to the F-150’s unsurpassed fuel economy in
the full-size pickup truck segment.

Also new in the F-150 this year is Ford’s standard Safety Canopy®
side-curtain air bag rollover protection system, which helps protect
front and rear outboard passengers in both rollovers and side-impact
crashes. It is designed to stay inflated for several seconds, as
rollover crashes often last longer than side-impact crashes. Added to
this is a Ford-first – the new “K-bag,” a front seat dual-chamber side
air bag named for its unique shape, which is designed to help protect
the rib cage from excessive crash forces during a side impact.

Another standard safety enhancement is a state-of-the-art passenger
seat sensor that specifies the timing and type of air-bag deployment
based on the weight of the occupant. Additional sensors in the vehicle
– monitoring roll stability control and rollover air bag deployment –
have been integrated into one unit, increasing the sensitivity and
accuracy of the system.

Stability and Towing Control

The F-150’s standard offering of Ford’s exclusive AdvanceTrac® with
RSC® (Roll Stability Control) also met a newer requirement that
vehicles must offer electronic stability control to earn IIHS’s top
rating. The system, using a gyroscopic sensor, detects and measures
over-steer, roll and yaw.

Working in conjunction with AdvanceTrac is Trailer Sway Control,
which determines from the yaw motion of the truck if the trailer is
swaying and takes measures to help bring it under control. Additional
towing-related driver-aid features include Integrated Trailer Brake
Controller, Tow Haul Mode and Reverse Camera System.