Ford, GM, Ram, and Toyota have been warring for years about their trucks' ever-increasing towing capacity claims even though there was never any agreed-upon standard. Things began to look up a few years back when all four automakers agreed to use an SAE standard to rate their pickups by 2013, and nowAutomotive Newsreports Toyota is crying foul as it's the only automaker to uphold its end of the bargain.
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The standardized SAE testing procedure, named J2807, is designed to reflect how the pickups are really used, and are supposed to be more reliable than the non-SAE numbers, which each manufacturer currently provides. The J2807 testing procedure would test a pickup's structure, propulsion, handling, braking, and thermal-handling ability, in a set environment, with and without a load. All the major truckmakers agreed to go by this testing procedure starting in 2013, but so far Toyota is the only one to do so.
Toyota isn't happy about that, and has asked its rival automakers to "do the right thing."
The Detroit Three, it seems, have no intention of playing fair. GM, with the new 2014 Chevrolet Silverado and 2014 GMC Sierra, doesn't intend to follow the new SAE standard until Ford does. Ram is in the same boat as GM. Ford appears to be feigning confusion. The automaker toldAutomotive Newsthat it thought the standard would only apply to new models starting this year. It says it won't start using the SAE J2807 standard until 2015, when the Ford Atlasinspired next-gen F-150 arrives.
Until then, it looks like Toyota is stuck with smaller tow capacity figures than its rivals - but hey, at least it can brag it towed a space shuttle, right?
Source: Automotive News (Subscription required)
I generally like writing—especially when it’s about cars—but I hate writing about myself. So instead of blathering on about where I was born (New York City, in case you were wondering) or what type of cars I like (all of ’em, as long as it has a certain sense of soul or purpose), I’ll answer the one question I probably get most, right after what’s your favorite car (see above): How’d you get that job? Luck. Well, mostly. Hard work, too. Lots of it. I sort of fell into my major of journalism/mass communication at St. Bonaventure University and generally liked it a lot. In order to complete my degree senior year, we had to spend our last two semesters on some sort of project. Seeing as I loved cars and already spent a good portion of my time reading about cars on sites such as Motor Trend, I opted to create a car blog. I started a Tumblr, came up with a car-related name (The Stig’s American Cousin), signed up for media access on a bunch of manufacturer’s websites, and started writing. I did everything from cover new trim levels to reviewing my friends’ cars. I even wrote a really bad April Fool’s Day post about the next Subaru Impreza WRX being Toyota-Corolla-based. It was fun, and because it was fun, it never felt like work. Sometime after my blog had gotten off the ground, I noticed that Motor Trend was hiring for what’s now our Daily News Team. I sent in my résumé and a link to my blog. I got the job, and two weeks after graduation I made the move from New York to California. I’ve been happily plugging away at a keyboard—and driving some seriously awesome hardware—ever since.
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