Powerboost Overheated while Towing

[currybob]

I think the big takeaway here is the 2021 F150 automatically reduced power vs. overheating and possibly causing damage. It also shows a notification on the dash. So even thought they were outside the limits of the truck it protected the owner from possible damage and cost.

I take it!

And I don't have any mountains like that I will be regularly towing up or down.

Certainly not at 65 MPH going uphill. That doesn't sound safe in a Superduty.

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[solarity]

At least they came clean with how their test was flawed. Though I worry many came away with the wrong conclusion.

 

[Vspec]

I would love to see the same test (as close as possible to max capacity) in the same conditions with other brands. I surmised the results would be quite similar.

Without a test completed according to standards (SAE), it is all pretty much anecdotal evidence.

 

[Timsvtgen1]

I would love to see the same test (as close as possible to max capacity) in the same conditions with other brands. I surmised the results would be quite similar.

Without a test completed according to standards (SAE), it is all pretty much anecdotal evidence.

Funny, because TFL had another overheat issue but this time w/ a GM press vehicle and at low speeds and their 6.2L . It happened a few weeks ago but they were waiting for a response from GM on the matter and as of yesterday they had no response.

 

[Vspec]

 

[Madman]

Funny, because TFL had another overheat issue but this time w/ a GM press vehicle and at low speeds and their 6.2L . It happened a few weeks ago but they were waiting for a response from GM on the matter and as of yesterday they had no response.

I saw this last night. Their max tow 6.2 Sierra was towing 7,000 lbs, about 2,400 less than the max tow PowerBoost F-150 had been pulling, but ran into a similar overheating issue at 9,000 ft. At that altitude, based on the feedback from Ford's engineers, the F-150 should have been able to pull 7,000 with no issue.

 

[Vspec]

At that altitude, based on the feedback from Ford's engineers, the F-150 should have been able to pull 7,000 with no issue.

That rating given by Ford is at 45mph, not the posted speed limit as TFL does in their tests. 15-20 mph at 9000 will make a difference.

 

[PungoteagueDave]

This is all rather silly. Now Ford tells us they rate their towing at 45 MPH? That is NOWHERE in their literature. Literally nowhere. So now we are supposed to also be experts in SAE rating standards? Absurd. Ford puts out a ton of information on towing specs, including complex grids and then gives us three stickers on our trucks with VIN-level detail on payload and towing specs. And nowhere does it REALLY tell us what the deal is. So, yeah, the TFL test was outside the specs. But there was no way for them to know that without ALSO being experts in SAE testing protocols because it is not in the Ford literature anywhere that to meet their specs you must drive at 45 mph. And who does THAT? And then Ford goes on to say that their towing test is based on a specific situation at a specific mountain pass. Great. Guess I'll go do all my towing there.

 

[don.mullins]

This is all rather silly. Now Ford tells us they rate their towing at 45 MPH? That is NOWHERE in their literature. Literally nowhere. So now we are supposed to also be experts in SAE rating standards? Absurd. Ford puts out a ton of information on towing specs, including complex grids and then gives us three stickers on our trucks with VIN-level detail on payload and towing specs. And nowhere does it REALLY tell us what the deal is. So, yeah, the TFL test was outside the specs. But there was no way for them to know that without ALSO being experts in SAE testing protocols because it is not in the Ford literature anywhere that to meet their specs you must drive at 45 mph. And who does THAT? And then Ford goes on to say that their towing test is based on a specific situation at a specific mountain pass. Great. Guess I'll go do all my towing there.

I bet GM & Dodge’s posted ratings are based on the same SAE standard. It is an industry standard after all.

 

[imnuts]

Why should Ford re-post all of the same information versus just saying "we rate based on specification XYZ"? It is common practice for products to just list a standard they meet (MIL, SAE, ANSI, NSF, ISO, etc.) and not listing all all areas of the standards that are met.

 

[BLoflin]

Not sure where the rancor is coming from. And make no mistake I'm far from a Ford apologist (that other popular forum is full of them). The Ford marketing lit does reference the standard in the footnotes: SAE J2807, not that anyone would notice or bother to look it up. The WHOLE point of the SAE standard for towing was precisely to give some common definition that allows consumers to compare across manufacturers. Before that every Manuf just made up their own definition and conditions for spouting Max tow numbers. Does anyone outside of automotive engineers know the definition, probably not. That's not important, what is important is there is one standard that Ford, Chevy, et al uses to make their claims. Does the standard represent ALL possible conditions that you could encounter with your truck, of course not, again not the point. Do Marketing types like to take the MAX numbers and footnote in 4 point font the disclaimers, YES, they all do.

Did a couple of yahoo's taking a "1/2 ton" truck that does NOT even have the Max Tow package, and submit it to a pretty grueling test, without understanding what they were doing. YES. Even though they didn't bother to understand what they were really doing (and the kept phrasing the question: "we want to find out which is better to haul a 10k load up a pass at altitude", a truck rated 11k lb or a heavy duty truck (with diesel) rated at 18k lbs. What a stupid premise.

Anyway, did the Ford truck pass the test, even though the test was beyond it's specs? Yes it did. It didn't stop, it didn't break down, it wasn't damaged. It completed the mission.

 

[FtS]

Lightening is looking better and better everyday. Towing at any altitude or speed won’t make a difference.

 

[don.mullins]

Lightening is looking better and better everyday. Towing at any altitude or speed won’t make a difference.

Temperature likely will … But I am curious on where an EV with regen support ends up pulling / hauling weight.

 

[PungoteagueDave]

Okay Ford fanbois, have at it. Ford spends a lot of effort in its trailering literature and websites to review weights and trailer sizes and what works with various truck configurations - but NOWHERE in all of that does it say this is ALL limited to towing at 45 MPH or less? Please folks, when it spends paragraphs talking about trailer frontal area and weight distributing hitches but fails even once in ANY of its literature to say ANYTHING about its standards being for speeds of 45 MPH or less, you think that's legit? And that we rubes should simply KNOW that the SAE standard includes a 45 MPH limit? Right. I am sure that none of you knew that. Literally none. And that it is also a ridiculous standard. Who is going to tow their boat or RV at a maximum of 45 MPH? Yet that is supposedly the standard that allows Ford to cop out of any responsibility for any towing event that occurs outside the SAE parameters - tow a trailer at 65, you've violated the specified standard, exceeded specs, and anything that happens is on you. This is absurd on its face.

 

[imnuts]

Maybe it's just me, but if I see something that references a standard, and I need to know what that means, I look it up. It takes an extra 2 minutes to find and a few more to read the standard. I may even learn something in the process. Ford also likely lists the other information as it is not part of the standard, therefore making it pertinent information to add.

Also, surface area is a huge factor at speed. 10,000 lbs of steel will have barely any surface area for wind resistance, whereas a fiberglass tank that may weight 2,000 lbs but had a huge surface area may actually present more issues towing. I'm pretty sure the towing standard is closer to the former than the latter in that they use a flat trailer and put a relatively low profile load on it. It probably would take you less time to look up and read the standard than the amount of time you've spent reading, responding, and complaining about it here.

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