Ford Delivers Another 'Pursuit Rated' Vehicle to Law Enforcement

Matt Posky
by Matt Posky

Ford recently began giving law enforcement agencies more options in terms of the type of automobiles they want to put into active duty. The company provided America’s preferred pursuit vehicle, the Crown Victoria, for years and has moved on to a broader fleet of sedans, SUVs, and pickups specifically equipped for police use. Earlier this year, Ford showcased the Police Responder Hybrid Sedan as part of its Greener Shade of Blue campaign — dubbing it the “first pursuit-rated hybrid police car.”

We condemned Ford for its bragging, mainly because Chevrolet already provided a hybrid police vehicle and there was no concrete evidence that the Police Responder Hybrid Sedan was actually pursuit-rated. Unfortunately, we may be forced to do that all over again with Ford’s new F-150 Police Responder pickup. It’s another new, likely welcome, entry into the automaker’s extensive law enforcement fleet that leaves us doubting the validity of the terminology used.

When enquiring about the Hybrid Sedan’s worthiness of being considered a pursuit vehicle, Lt. Michael McCarthy, from the Michigan State Police’s Precision Driving Unit, stated he wanted to reserve all formal judgements until after the car had undergone the department’s rigorous annual testing at Grattan Raceway.

As anyone with a sincere interest in squad cars will tell you, manufacturers (and practically every police department in North America) look to the MSP to provide useful benchmarks for the capabilities of vehicles outfitted for law enforcement.

“Ford has a Police Advisory Board which consists of approximately 25 members from police agencies around the nation and Canada,” Lt. McCarthy explained. “Many of the suggestions that have been made at these meetings have been incorporated into their police vehicles. The Board meets 2-4 times per year and puts the members in direct contact with the engineers making their vehicles.”

The Michigan State Police and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s also provide the purchasing specifications and testing criteria necessary to develop what they consider a pursuit-rated vehicle. While automakers can technically call the models whatever they want, it’s not unreasonable to assume the terms used by the manufacturer adhere to these targets. “Our purchasing spec says that [a pursuit vehicle] must accelerate from 0-60 mph in 9.0 seconds, 0-80 mph in 14.9 seconds, 0-100 mph in 24.6 seconds, and attain a top speed of 120 mph — minimum,” McCarthy told us.

While there is little doubt the F-150 Police Responder’s 3.5-liter V6 EcoBoost can hit most of these guidelines, especially with 375 horsepower and 470 pound-feet of torque on tap, Ford indicates it is limited to 100 mph. However, the automaker is still calling the pickup “pursuit-rated.”

“Ford’s 2018 F-150 Police Responder is the perfect all-terrain law enforcement vehicle,” said Stephen Tyler, Ford’s police brand marketing manager, in a release. “Aside from its industry-first on-road pursuit capability, this purpose-built pickup can comfortably seat five, while providing capability in off-road patrol situations for officers in rural environments patrolled by sheriff’s departments, border patrol operations and the Department of Natural Resources.”

Even though this is more of a problem for Ford’s marketing department than its engineers, it does seem inappropriate to bestow a meaningful label upon the truck before it has proven itself deserving of it. Additionally, Ford typically calls its pursuit cars Interceptors — as is the case with the Taurus-based Police Interceptor Sedan and Explorer-based Police Interceptor Utility. Calling the F-150 a “Responder,” which Ford also did with the Hybrid Sedan, seems to indicate the company wasn’t willing to fully commit.

Fastidiousness aside, some departments are likely to be interested in the new pickup. General Motors offers the Silverado Special Service Vehicle but the F-150 should outperform it in terms of fuel economy, thanks to its comparatively smaller engine and 10-speed automatic.

Coming standard with the FX4 off-road package, the Ford pickup uses a part-time four-wheel-drive system with low-range transfer case and comes with a locking rear differential, skid plates, and model-specific shocks. As a police vehicle, the Responder is outfitted with the obligatory 240-amp alternator, column-mounted shifter, and steel-plated seat backs. It also has unique aluminum wheels, an anti-roll bar, and upgraded brakes. Ford claims the F-150 Police Responder has a 7,000-pound tow capacity, which is on par with the civilian FX4 after you consider the added weight police vehicles typically incur.

Ford has yet to announced when it will begin delivery of the new pickup to government agencies, but it assures us that Ne’er-do-wells won’t be safe from it on or off-road.

[Images: Ford Motor Company]

Matt Posky
Matt Posky

A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.

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  • Hamish42 Hamish42 on Jul 20, 2017

    I'd like to think that at the same time they are going full-military spec on these vehicles that they are also hustling them off to Skip Barber to give them an idea what to do with them.

  • Big Al from Oz Big Al from Oz on Jul 21, 2017

    So, what is great or new about this?? Australia back in the 60s used F 100s with 351s as police vehicles. They were very common. https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/a8/14/89/a814892e2e13788691e950643e13c101.jpg If the US wants a pickup police car, why not the Raptor? http://resources.carsguide.com.au/styles/cg_hero_large/s3/Ford-F150-Raptor-NSW-Police-Highway-Patrol-joshua-dowling-(3).jpg Our cops use your (better still Aussie) Chev SS'es or as we call them Commodores. They were as common as dog sh!t. Far superior vehicle for police work than a F150 and much faster. F-150s are speed limited to 98mph, even my diesel Mazda midsizer is quicker, 114mph, with lift, nuggety off road tyres, bull bar and other co-efficient drags. https://res.cloudinary.com/carsguide/image/upload/f_auto,fl_lossy,q_auto,t_cg_hero_low/v1/editorial/dp/albums/album-5786/lg/HSV-GTS-Police-car-4.jpg

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    • Lou_BC Lou_BC on Jul 22, 2017

      @Scoutdude Who'd want to push a 4x4 pickup above 98 mph for any sustained period of time? Police forces will buy these for rural patrols and urban areas with significant decay or areas facing more harsh winter conditions. I seriously doubt high speed freeway use will ever be a primary purchase metric for one of these trucks.

  • Rochester "better than Vinfast" is a pretty low bar.
  • TheMrFreeze That new Ferrari looks nice but other than that, nothing.And VW having to put an air-cooled Beetle in its display to try and make the ID.Buzz look cool makes this classic VW owner sad 😢
  • Wolfwagen Is it me or have auto shows just turned to meh? To me, there isn't much excitement anymore. it's like we have hit a second malaise era. Every new vehicle is some cookie-cutter CUV. No cutting-edge designs. No talk of any great powertrains, or technological achievements. It's sort of expected with the push to EVs but there is no news on that front either. No new battery tech, no new charging tech. Nothing.
  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
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