Structural Adhesive used in New F150

jerem0621 wrote:
I have heard that Adhesive is used in the new Aluminum F150 Body. Seems that the adhesive is called Dow Betamate structural adhesive.

Here is a Link to a post concerning this.

I'm wondering if anyone has any information on how reliable this structural adhesive will be over time? How will this stuff hold up through thousands of heat and cold cycles...also how will this stuff age?

I am still in the research phase of my next truck purchase and want to make sure I understand these things correctly. Right now the Ram and Chevy are the leaders for my next purchase...

I must admit that there is a basic hesitation in me over the new F150.

The whole aluminum thing by itself is a case for my distrust, then the missing crash deflectors on the supercabs, and now learning that the F150 uses 'structural adhesive' just makes me want to steer away from the F150 (long time Ford guy here too.)

But, I don't want to make an emotional decision but one based on facts.

Thanks!

Jeremiah

Have you reviewed '15 RAM crash tests performance in all cab configurations?

Crash standards can change during automobile testing phase (meaning the design is done).

I have no concerns about adhesives. On my Super Duty hoods the top shell is glued to the structure support and in the 10 collective years I've owned these trucks I never had an issue.

Edit: Here's a copy/paste from Mike Levine at F150 online on this topic. I suppose you can scratch RAM off your short list too!

IIHS bias in reporting and comparisons have now been confirmed by Mike Levine. Ram has some 'splaining to do after they claimed all Rams are designed equally.

The facts now are all Rams are not all designed equally and Ram only puts the blockers on some 2015 Rams.

IIHS will not test 2015 Rams for small overlap like they did with Ford. This gives Ram time to put the blockers on all 2016 Rams.

In fact IIHS was planning to test 2015 GMs and 2015 Rams but backed out.