Why Do Pickup Trucks Use 19th Century Structures?

A century ago, a pickup truck buyer would purchase a vehicle engineered with a sheet steel box and a stamped steel body bolted to a ladder frame. Today, a pickup buyer is purchasing exactly the same technology. In Europe, the auto industry explored lighter, stiffer and more modern technology, monocoque construction, as far back as the 1930s and in America a steady shift away from body-on-frame in passenger cars began in 1960 and is now complete. Unit construction makes a vehicle lighter, stiffer, with better ride quality and handling than body on frame construction. Yet most pickup trucks and large SUVs still use the older technology. Why?

Access all episodes of End of the Line on Engineering TV along with all of our other series.