F150 Diesel Ike Gauntlet

avoidcrowds wrote:
"an engineer with his forehead buried in his hands"

Mostly because the engineer probably told Marketing that they needed to do some things differently, and Marketing didn't listen. Then, the results of the test show up online, and he can't say "I told you so" without getting fired.

I don't know who has more say in the design of a vehicle - engineers or marketers. I think marketers.

LOL, Subaru has gone down this path. They were run by engineers and you could tow 2400 lbs with a Forester...including them being pre-wired, but they weren't selling any cars, so they put a marketing puke in charge and started selling cars but the engineering began a slow decline. I had an 04 Forester (Manual) that towed like a beast (18/1900 lb loaded pop up) including up and down the Ike gauntlet at 45 mph three times. I then bought an 07 (manual) and the marketing pukes got hold of it and played with it changing the torque power ratio so soccer moms could get on the highway faster but low end grunt was gone and the steering (less feel) and the suspension (softer springs wallowed). What had been a perfect tow beast in 04 became much less by 07. I had to work on on the 07 including putting "pinks" racing springs on it. It was a retired Subaru engineer who told me all this and recommended the pinks. Now a Forester will tow 1500 lbs... life moves on.