Saturday, July 31, 2010

Ford F150 and Big Brother

If you follow my blog, you know that bought a 2010 Ford F 150 truck in mid May. I have now driven it up and down the coast three times in a short period. In mid July we were once again heading North. I was eastbound on I-10 and could see for quite a distance. I had the radar detector on and was running with a loose pack at 90 mph. I have always driven every vehicle over 100 mph at least once except for a 1996 Sonoma that had a speed limiter set at 95 mph. So I decided to go for my one time over a 100 mph in my new F 150 with the V8 engine. You can imagine how upset I was when the engine semi quit at some where between 95 and 97 MPH. My GPS always read 2 mph below the speedometer. I did not swear but tried a second time. Same thing. You don't lose power steering, but I am sure the break lights do not come on and the speed drops suddenly. In my mind this is not acceptable.

I called the service manager at Cook - Whitehead Ford where I purchased the truck. He called Ford Engineering and after three days, I called again. I'm sure he was counting on me not pushing it. The very next day, I received a call. Ford does not publish the speed limiters on any of their vehicles, but every one has it, and if you hit that limit a code is put in the computer on your vehicle. They did say that the limit was between 92 and 98 mph for the truck. Why bother having a speedometer that goes up to 120 mph?

Not happy, I told him I was thinking of having a sign made for the back window that says:

NOT FORD TOUGH - BUT A FORD WIMP

I doubt I will do it, but hell even the Honda Ody van let me do 110. Apparently I am the first truck buyer to inquire as the service manager had to ask Ford. The bottom line is, I still love the truck and love driving it.

I would be even more upset if I bought a new Mustang with 400 hp and could not drive well over 120 mph.

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