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Fallon picks Ford F-150 King Ranch, launches dealership contest

New truck! Jimmy Fallon of The Tonight Show has been searching for the perfect new truck for a few weeks now, soliciting help from all corners in the process. Last night, Fallon made the announcement that the Ford F-150 King Ranch - in all of its cowboy glory - had been picked as his big winner.
To add some more spice to a storyline that now dips deeply into the realm of the advertorial, Fallon also announced a contest to see which Ford dealership would get the privilege of selling him the King Ranch. Dubbed "Fingers on a 4x4" The Tonight Show has invited 10 dealer reps from around the country to keep their hands on Jimmy's F-150 for as long as possible. Last salesperson standing wins.
Watch Fallon make his pick and introduce the dealer reps below, and be sure to click on the second video for a live-streaming feed of Fingers on a 4x4 in action (the contest seems to be going strong).

Next SVT Mustang may axe Shelby name, go naturally aspirated

Following our first glimpse at the 2015 Ford Mustang out on the road, the fine folks at Road and Track have divulged some details on what the Blue Oval's next pony might have in store. We've already seen that the car will get some very sleek, Evos-inspired design cues, and an independent rear suspension is indeed in store. These new details, however, concern the muscle car's beating heart.
For starters, the base Ford coupe is expected to carry on with V6 power, likely from the same 3.7-liter unit found in today's car. From there, R&T says the next step up will be a four-cylinder EcoBoost engine, likely displacing 2.3 liters, putting out as much as 350 horsepower. Of course, a Mustang wouldn't be a Mustang without V8 thrust, and R&T states that the 5.0-liter Coyote V8 will continue on into the 2015 car, making something like 450 horsepower.
But it's at the high end of the Mustang range where things will, reportedly, get very, very interesting. Road & Track claims that the top-shelf 'Stang will likely lose the supercharger from its engine, producing a metric crap-ton of naturally aspirated grunt instead. Additionally, the SVT-fettled Mustang will likely be dropping its Shelby moniker, in favor of "a name you're familiar with," according to the magazine (you know, like, Cobra).

How the 2015 Ford Mustang will save your knees

The 2015 Mustang is one of the most hotly anticipated vehicles of the moment, and Ford continues to leak out interesting little details about its newest pony car. The latest info doesn't have anything to do with its quarter-mile time or handling, but if any of that goes drastically wrong, the innovative new glovebox-mounted airbag may prevent passengers from knee injuries.
All variants of the 2015 Mustang get the active knee airbag as standard, and it's the first vehicle in Ford's lineup to receive the system. The setup is actually quite simple and ingenious. The glovebox is made from a plastic outer panel that is attached to the inner door. Sandwiched between them is this new injection-molded plastic bladder that folds flat when in use. If the passenger-side airbag deploys, the system springs into action to act as a cushion for your knees. Compared to a traditional knee airbag that has to fully inflate, this arrangement is 65 percent lighter and can use a 75 percent smaller inflator. It's also basically invisible when you look at the glovebox door.
Ford spokesperson Ed Saenz declined to tell Autoblog whether the system will appear in other vehicles in the Blue Oval's lineup but said, "We're considering other applications." Provided it's effective, the approach seems too simple not to make its way to other products. Scroll down to watch a video showing how the glovebox-mounted knee airbag works.