The “unibody” vehicle frame has been around for over a century and has plenty of benefits. Ford intends to take the concept to the extreme in its pursuit of a sub $40,000 truck, but is it really a good idea?
There are a few reasons to opt for a unibody construction. First, it’s a lot cheaper. Especially if you’re essentially using “gigacasting” as Ford plans to. The process combines what would be a multitude of parts into a single unit. It means workers spend less time putting everything together, and you can churn out vehicles a lot faster.
Unibody vehicles also tend to be more rigid, which improves handling. The lack of rails underneath means unibodies are noticeably lighter than body-on-frame vehicles too, and the driver can sit a little lower than they would otherwise. Noise and vibration also seems to be less noticeable when you’re in a unibody vehicle.
Ford first produced unibody trucks in the 1960s, and currently makes the Ford Maverick which is also a unibody. There’s an argument that the Maverick is the best deal out there when it comes to Ford trucks, it sells for way less than $40,000 too, however it isn’t the most popular vehicle with a bed Ford offers. Not by a long way. There’s a good chance people will avoid Ford’s “cheap” truck for the same reasons.
Why Ford’s $40,000 truck might be a bad buy
If you look at the list of “cons” that come with a unibody frame, it basically reads like everything you don’t want in a truck. As a unibody vehicle distributes stress across the entire vehicle’s structure instead of concentrating it on a set of heavy duty rails, towing capacity and payload tend to be significantly reduced. Basically, if you want your truck to do truck things, you need to pick a body-on-frame vehicle.
The same can be said for off-roading. The extra flex a body-on-frame vehicle has is quite handy on severely uneven terrain. It also protects the cabin from harsh impacts a lot better, so folks attempting to off-road in a unibody vehicle may have a far rougher time doing so. Then you have repair costs and how the vehicles handle damage. Hit a rock wrong on the trail, a body on frame vehicle will probably be fine, a unibody might just be a write off.
This applies on the street too. An impact in a unibody vehicle can warp the entire frame and render the vehicle essentially irreparable. Plenty of vehicles with seemingly minor damage are written off each year because of this, and it’s one of the reasons that insurance on vehicles made by companies like Tesla is so high. Technically, you could rip the entire cabin off a body on frame vehicle, put a new one on the frame, and be good to go again.
Then you have modifications, if that’s your thing. It’s far easier to modify things like suspension on a body on frame vehicle. With unibody vehicles, the suspension tends to be integrated into the vehicle’s structural shell. Making something like a lift pretty difficult. It’s doable, but it’s a big job. This isn’t the case on a body-on-frame truck.
Unibody or monocoque vehicles are fantastic in a lot of ways. They’re just not great for trucks. So there’s a good chance that Ford’s upcoming cheap truck might be more of a flop than the savior the brand is looking for.
