Hasta La Gadget!

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has announced that it’ll be opening up an investigation on Ford‘s F-150 pickup truck. They say that there have been 95 reports of F-150 trucks losing engine power after accelerating, especially when driving in humid or wet conditions. The truck’s motto, “built Ford tough,” might be put on hold while the NHTSA investigates the problem.

As for how many trucks are involved in the investigation probe, the administration says that 400,000 F-150 pickup trucks are at risk, consisting of model years from 2011 to 2013. Specifically, the issue mostly occurs when accelerating while already traveling at highway speeds, so if you’re were to speed up a bit in order to pass someone, that’s when the engine would suddenly cut off.

It’s said that Ford’s EcoBoost technology is to blame, and multiple Ford owners in several states have already filed lawsuits with Ford in federal court, claiming the EcoBoost engine technology is defective because the engine loses power during acceleration periods. That ongoing status of those lawsuits are unknown, but now that the NHTSA is investigating, the court cases may not last as long as initially thought.

EcoBoost is Ford’s new nomenclature for their line of engines that offer turbocharged performance when needed, and Ford claims EcoBoost can save 20% in fuel usage. Essentially, the engine lays low when light power is applied, but it detects heavy acceleration or if the driver needs the extra boost, that’s when the turbo kicks in. Most likely, the transition between these two elements is causing the sudden loss of power to the motor, although there’s no official word on what exactly is causing the issue.

Luckily, no accidents or injuries have been reported due to the problem, and Ford is said to be cooperating with the investigation. The initial investigation will last anywhere from six months to a year, so it’ll be a while before we hear anything from the NHTSA on the status of the analysis. Ford alone has received over 1,400 complaints about the issue, so it’s definitely not just an isolated problem.

VIA: Torque News

US government investigating Ford F-150 engine problems is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Croatian artist Đorđe Balać has a talent for building things from matchsticks. Now, I’m not talking about some little models you might find gathering dust at a flea market. No, these matchstick models are truly epic.

Balac spends countless hours building his realistic models of industrial vehicles from literally hundreds of thousands of matchsticks.

My personal favorite is the Mercedes cement mixer shown above.

He’s also built bulldozers and several other trucks, but his masterwork is his Liebherr LTM 11200 crane model, made from over 175,000 individual matchsticks and held together with over 44 pounds of glue, and finished with almost 18 pounds of varnish.

Check out more pics of Đorđe matchstick creations over on Facebook.

[via 24 Hours via Oddity Central]

I’ve spent time driving the Ford Raptor pickup from a couple different model years and came away impressed by the truck. The Raptor has an impressively powerful engine and the sort of lifted stance you expect to see in a desert racing truck. I’ve also spent plenty of time road racing cars over the years and one thing I can definitely say about the Raptor is that I didn’t climb into the truck thinking “let’s take this thing to the road course!”

In fact, all of the warnings on the visor about the truck flipping would seem to absolutely contraindicate driving it in a performance manner on a road course. That didn’t stop race car driver and Top Gear USA host Tanner Faust from strapping into a Ford F-150 SVT Raptor and proceeding to hoon the big truck around the famous Nürburgring’s Nordschleife track in Germany.

The fact that the Raptor is made for off-road racing didn’t keep Tanner from putting it on the pavement. He jumps the car over curbing and generally embarrasses people behind the wheel of real sports cars in an automatic transmission pickup truck.

Sadly, the promo video doesn’t show much of Tanner’s lap, spending more time focusing on him talking about how unusual it is to see a pickup of any sort cruising the streets in Germany, much less racing on one of the most famous racetracks in all the world.

[via MotorAuthority]

In an effort to cut down on the amount of diesel used throughout the day, the United Parcel Service (UPS) is deploying 100 electric trucks in central California to continually test out its new initiative of going green. While the new trucks might not be able to last all day on a full charge, it’s a step in the right direction for eco-friendly vehicles.

UPS has deployed these 100 electric trucks in areas in Sacramento, San Bernardino, Bakersfield, and Fresno. Thanks to the 75-mile range from a single charge, the 100 trucks are said to help cut down diesel fuel use by about 126,000 gallons per year. In total, UPS operates over 2,500 alternative fuel vehicles in the US.

However, UPS isn’t the only package delivery company that’s deploying electric vehicles. Last year, Federal Express said that it was more than doubling its all-electric fleet to 43 vehicles. That’s certainly not as many as UPS has, but we definitely have to give anyone willing to switch to eco-friendly vehicles an “A” for effort.

It’s not said exactly when UPS or FedEx may switch full-time to electric trucks, but given that UPS already has 2,500 of them, it shouldn’t take long until the company replaces their entire diesel fleet. However, electric vehicles are still in their infancy, so it may take a while until we see them hit the road in larger quantities.

[via Autoblog]

Image via Flickr

UPS puts 100 electric trucks on the road in California is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

This oil truck is a superhero. When the lid is closed, it looks just like all the other tankers at Ken Foster’s oil delivery company. But it’s hiding a secret identity. Under its lid, it’s actually a not so lean, mean, portable grilling machine. And it can cook a lot of meat at one time.


With the push of a button, the whole tanker opens up, revealing a traveling kitchen inside, complete with a four-burner stove, 42-inch grill and stainless steel prep counter. The owner of Hall Oil and grill store Breakaway in South Dennis, Massachusetts started planning the mobile grill about a year ago when he started collaborating with Gary Webb, of Gary’s Truck Equipment in neighboring Harwich. It cost them about $40,000 to outfit the truck with all of the cooking mods. Now, they drive around their so-called “X Grill” and rent it out for private parties and fundraisers.

Now you’re cooking with oil… truck. That’s one awesome mobile man-grill guys!

[via recyclart via Neatorama]