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Ford highlights new F-650 and F-750 with full-size Tonka show truck [w/videos]

Who among us hasn't been tempted by the prospect of buying a big yellow truck and painting the name Tonka along the side? Well apparently there were some folks over at Ford who were just as tempted, only they actually had the means to make that childhood fantasy a reality in the form of the truck you see here. Revealed at the NTEA Work Truck Show this week in Indianapolis, this Tonka show truck stands nearly 10 feet tall. It's painted bright yellow, just like the one you played with in the sand box (and probably still would given the opportunity and maybe no one else looking) and has a blacked-out nose treatment and special graphics. As you can see, it's also equipped with a working dump bed, and has a truly staggering 33,000-pound gross vehicle weight rating, built to showcase the Blue Oval's new line of medium duty trucks. Of course "medium duty" is a relative term, and the new F-750 is clearly a heavier piece of machinery than the company's own Super Duty pickups, but they're lighter-duty than a proper big rig. The new 2016 Ford F-650 and F-750 are just as tough as the models they replace, but they're now quieter and more comfortable to use. In fact, Ford says its 6.7-liter Power Stroke V8 diesel is now 25-percent quieter inside the cabin at highway speeds, 45-percent quieter at idle and 35-percent quieter standing outside in front of the grille. Ford notes that it's the only medium-duty truck manufacturer that makes its own engines and transmissions. That Power Stroke diesel comes with 270 horsepower and 675 pound-feet of torque as standard, but can be upgraded to 300 hp and 700 lb-ft or all the way up to 330 hp and 725 lb-ft. Commercial buyers will also be able to choose between Regular, Super and Crew Cab models with a straight-frame, dock-height or tractor-towing frames, meaning that whatever it is you've got to haul, chances are high that the new Ford F-650 and F-750 can be set up to get the job done.

UAW to vote on strike authorization amid claims Detroit talks are moving slowly

DETROIT — About 146,000 members of the United Auto Workers union will vote next week whether to authorize their leaders to call strikes against the Detroit automakers. Union President Shawn Fain told members in a Facebook Live appearance Tuesday that the talks, which started in mid-July, are moving slowly and have yet to get to wages and other economic issues. The union's contracts with General Motors, Ford and Stellantis expire in about a month, at 11:59 p.m. Sept. 14. “If we want to make progress at the bargaining table, we need to show the companies that it's not just talk,” Fain said of the strike vote. He told local offices to report the results of their votes to the union headquarters by Aug. 24. Strike authorization votes are a routine part of contract talks and are often overwhelmingly approved, but Fain said the vote is a sign of the union's strength. Fain has set high expectations for the contract talks and says the union will seek more than 40% general pay raises over four years, restoration of pensions for newer hires, cost-of-living increases, an end to wage tiers, and other benefits. He has said workers can make big gains but must be ready to strike to get them. The union also wants guarantees that it will represent workers at 10 U.S. electric vehicle battery plants proposed by the companies. Most are joint ventures with Korean battery companies. Much of Fain's rhetoric has been focused on Stellantis, the most profitable of the three companies with the highest profit margins. Fain has complained that Stellantis is seeking concessions in the contract when the union wants gains. But a union spokesman said singling out Stellantis doesnÂ’t mean the UAW has picked a company as a strike target, and it could choose all three. He said the union doesn't plan to extend the contracts beyond Sept. 14. Automakers say they are facing billions of dollars in development costs as the industry shifts from combustion engines to electric vehicles. In a letter to employees last week, Stellantis Chief Operating Officer Mark Stewart accused Fain of “theatrics and personal insults” that Stewart said will not help to reach a deal. He wrote that the company is committed to an agreement based on “economic realism” that supports the viability of Stellantis' operations while rewarding workers. The company, he wrote, wants to find solutions to protect Stellantis from nonunion companies with lower costs and additional costs from moving to electric vehicles. “Mr.

NHTSA closes rollaway investigation into 1.56M Ford SUVs

It's taken four years of study, but the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has finally closed the books on its investigation into rollaway accusations surrounding 1.56-million Ford SUV models.
The probe, which centered on the 2002-2005 Ford Explorer, 2002-2005 Mercury Mountaineer and 2003-2005 Lincoln Aviator, ends without the federal agency calling for a recall. According to The Detroit News, the investigation was closed due to a "low number of complaints" - NHTSA documented 180 such complaints that resulted in 14 crashes and six minor injuries, but the number of incidents have been slowing. The suspected defect rate for the trucks' automatic transmissions was found to be 4.4 per 100,000 units, and the brake-shift interlock mechanism failure rate was judged to be even lower at 3.4 per 100k.