You all know the Ford Ranger. It is, after all, one of the hottest-selling trucks in the country. But do you really know the Ranger?
What we mean is, are you familiar with this pickup outside of the spec sheets, reviews, and marketing? Because there’s a lot more to the Ranger than what you see displayed in showrooms or social media. Here are eight things you probably didn’t know about the model:
1) Production is nonstop
If we’re being specific, one Ford Ranger unit rolls off a production line at the American carmaker’s manufacturing facilities in the US, South Africa, and Thailand every two minutes. But how?
2) That efficiency is possible thanks to robots
A total of 101 robots takes just three hours to build one of these pickups, manufacturing components like the chassis, engine, and transmission.
3) Weld everything
Each Ranger comes with 5,000 weld spots, with the entire build protected from corrosion thanks to 12 chemical baths conducted prior to painting.
4) A lot of paint is involved
Six liters of paint is used to finish each Ranger unit—that’s including primer, the base coat, and clear coat. A bunch of high-resolution cameras then inspect units following the painting process.
5) Can you guess how many parts each unit contains?
Ford doesn’t go into specifics here, but does say you can expect more than 1,500 parts in each Ranger. To ensure they’re all in proper order, units go through a strict 1,000-point check and 300-point electronic diagnosis.
6) Units are sprayed with a ton of water
This is to ensure all of a unit’s seals are working. How much H2O are we talking about here? A whopping 17,000 liters per unit.
7) A lot goes into quality assurance
Every Ranger unit goes through squeaks and rattle track, high-speed track, and rough-road track testing prior to being released. There’s also a steering alignment test track, and lasers and cameras scan the headlights to check for proper alignment.
8) The Ranger has been put through its paces
We’re talking millions of cycles through both physical and virtual testing. The company says this is the equivalent of driving over 250,000km of bumps, potholes, ditches, and stones at maximum load.
Well, you learn something new every day. Did you know any of these facts? Let us know which ones in the comments.
