► 2015 Ford F-150 Torture Tests

SILVER CREEK
The famous Silver Creek durability course in Romeo, Mich., combines two extremely rough roads. One section of the route has 15 distinct types of chuckholes, while the other is made from broken pieces of concrete.

TWIST DITCH
The twist ditch is a set of parallel dirt mounds built to create a situation in which one front wheel hangs in the air while the opposing rear wheel leaves the ground repeatedly. Only two small patches of rubber are left to make contact with a slippery surface and maintain traction.

STONE PECK ALLEY
To test paint for the all-new F-150, engineers drove the truck 150 miles over gravel roads, then another 150 miles over pellets of extremely jagged scrap iron that is first passed through a blast furnace. Oversized tires spray the stones and scrap iron at every surface of the truck.

ENGINE THERMAL SHOCK
F-150 engines are first placed in a special cell and hooked to equipment, called a dynamometer, which simulates pulling a heavy trailer at full throttle up a steep grade. Next, thermal shock testing takes engines from the coldest polar vortex to extreme heat in just seconds.

ROCK AND STOP
Ford performs 500 aggressive starts on a stand specially designed to torture rear axles. The stand creates impacts at nearly 2,000 lb.-ft. of torque. This is more torque than the truck is capable of making -- 130 percent more and then some -- just to be certain the rear axle and all of its parts can withstand the abuse.

DRUM DROP
Ford engineers dropped 55-gallon drums into the bed of the truck on an angle, making sure all of the force came down on the sharp rim of the drum. Engineers in Dearborn, Mich., then measure the impact and make adjustments until the cargo box floor is suitably tough.

SEVEN-CHANNEL INPUT
Ford built a special torture rack that violently twists and shakes the truck seven ways -- simultaneously -- for five days, simulating the equivalent of 225,000 miles.

DAVIS DAM
Run a half-marathon at Olympic-sprinter speed while carrying a 600-pound duffel bag in 120-degree temperatures. Then do it 250 more times. That's the Davis Dam durability route that stretches from just outside Bullhead City, Ariz., to the top of Union Pass.

CORROSION BATH
The 2015 F-150 is the first high-volume vehicle with a high-strength steel frame, and body panels made of high-strength, aluminum alloy -- the same material used to make armor-plated tanks and navy warships. An advantage aluminum has over steel is that it doesn't produce red rust. So Ford had to go beyond the usual tests that include driving vehicles through countless salt baths and soaking them in high-humidity chambers.

POWER HOP HILL
This washboard Ford test track in Romeo was created to replicate a steep, off-road dirt trail in the Hualapai Mountains of northwest Arizona. The severe 11 percent grade -- steeper than the final section of most ski jump ramps -- stresses engine and transmission components when the wheels lose contact and then return to the surface.

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