08 Jeep Liberty Sport Alloys Local Trade 4wd 4x4 Awd on 2040-cars

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2015 Ford F-150 named Truck of Texas, Lincoln and Jeep also awarded at Truck Rodeo

The Ford Motor Company has a lot of reasons to celebrate after winning eight categories in this year's Texas Auto Writers Association's annual Truck Rodeo. Most important among them, the Blue Oval's latest 2015 Ford F-150 earned the prestigious Truck of Texas award, ending the Ram 1500's two-year winning streak. The 2015 Lincoln MKC also grabbed the honor as the CUV of Texas, and Ford was named Truck Line of Texas.
FoMoCo even took trophies for best technology with its extensive use of aluminum on its latest F-Series and best commercial vehicle for the new Transit 250. It wasn't a total sweep, though, because the Jeep Grand Cherokee grabbed the title of the SUV of Texas for the fifth straight time.
This year's event put 60 auto writers in 75 pickups, SUVs and crossovers and challenged them to find the best in a plethora of categories. All of the winners are listed below, and scroll down to read the full announcements from the Texas Auto Writers Association and Ford.

NHTSA boss Strickland weighs in on Jeep recall fracas

Adding yet another chapter to the ongoing Jeep recall story, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) head David Strickland has gone on record to defend the government's request that Chrysler recall 2.7 million out-of-production Jeep Grand Cherokee and Jeep Liberty vehicles after the agency investigated fiery rear-end collisions that have reportedly killed at least 51 people over the years. In statements made to The Detroit News, Strickland said, "We felt very strongly that the process that we undertook and the findings that we made and ... we made the decision to issue a recall request. We do not take that very lightly." The top US auto safety regulator stopped short of telling owners to park their cars until the automaker takes action. "They can make their own risk assessment and their own choices," he said.
Chrysler does not intend to recall the models, insisting the "vehicles met and exceeded all applicable requirements of the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, including FMVSS 301, pertaining to fuel-system integrity" when they were manufactured and sold. "The company does not agree with NHTSA's conclusions and does not intend to recall the vehicles cited in the investigation. The subject vehicles are safe and are not defective," Chrysler announced last week in a statement. "We believe NHTSA's initial conclusions are based on an incomplete analysis of the underlying data, and we are committed to continue working with the agency to resolve this disagreement."
Legally, Chrysler has until June 18 to formally respond to NHTSA's request. If the automaker does not take action, NHTSA is expected to issue a formal finding and seek a recall.

Watch this 9-year-old drive Jeep Wrangler off-road [w/poll]

This nine-year-old girl might be better at rock crawling than some people twice her age. But is it worth putting her in danger to do it? According to her father on the Jeep Experience Facebook page, her name is Faith, and she has been offroading with her family since she was two. At nine years old, she's now driving her dad's Jeep over the rocks by herself.
As you can see she's belted in and under her father's direct supervision and guidance. She shows immense confidence for someone her age and follows her dad's instructions on exactly what to do. Although, this could still be a very dangerous situation if something went wrong.
Previously, we saw a similar video with a six-year-old on a motorcycle driving on public roads through the desert. Voters decided by only a six-point margin that the adult should be in trouble for letting the kid ride the bike. Here, we have a slightly older child driving a vehicle off road. Where do you fall in this case? Is it still wrong to hand over control to a child? Let us know in the poll below and scroll down to watch the video.