Ford Expands First-Ever Factory-Installed Strobe Warning LED Lights to F-150

[Ford Super News Ticker]

Ford, America’s truck leader and the only automaker to offer an available factory-installed strobe warning LED light kit, is making strobe lights available to F-150 fleet customers for the first time.

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[Fifty150]

I'm not very impressed with the installation locations.  The two in the front look like someone mounted a couple of foglights on the cowling behind the hood.  Ford trucks are high enough off the ground, that someone in a small car may not see that coming up behind them.  And those two mounted on either side of the high mount stop brake light was something that I thought about doing then quickly decided against.  I didn't want any extra lights mounted on the truck that did nothing except flash.  That defeats the purpose of driving an unmarked car.  Anyone looking at it would notice the extra lights that aren't suppose to be there.  Kind of like when cops drove Crown Victorias, all white & unmarked, but they had push bumpers, spotlights on the A Pillar, rear deck lights,  and fog lights with red & blue lenses.  It would have been better for them to install LED lamps in the light housings, then control them through the Body Control Module.  On my F-150, the strobes are hidden in the OEM light housings.  If a strobe is behind a red lens, like a brake lamp, I have a flashing red light.  If a strobe is hidden behind a yellow lens, like a side marker or turn signal, then I have a flashing yellow light.  The fog lights were a natural place to hide strobe lights, and work well because my fog lights are rarely on.  The high mount third brake light has two white lights on either side which are described as "cargo lights" to illuminate the truck bed.  It was much easier to hide strobes inside the lamp housing, than to drill the roof of the truck, and worry about water leaking.  

[Fifty150]

KVID0564.mp4

[jrm223]

Not bad, but I was expecting them to be integrated in the regular light housings, too. They are indicated for construction & maintenance type use, so they generally would be turned off while driving around.

Fifty150, look into Atomic LED, they have flashers that integrate into stock lights (convert to LED if they aren't already) and give great flash patterns. Their flasher boxes have overrides for normal vehicle functioning, too - so hitting the brakes while the strobes are already going will light the brake-lights up solid like normal so that people know you're stopping. You might also look into Speed Turtle, it plugs into the OBD port and flashes certain lights depending on model year, manufacturer & specific vehicle model. I didn't see any compatibility for Transit Connects, but I remember F150's being listed as compatible.

[Fifty150]

A lot of options out there.  For me, the easiest and less expensive method is to drill a hole and mount an LED.  LED lamps are inexpensive, and the prices keep dropping.  LED controllers are also falling in price.  A simple fuse tap with 5 amps gives more than enough power to run all flashing lights I want.  60 watts is more than adequate for 3W LED strobes in each lamp.  For anyone who may want to try it, use silicone and rubber o-rings so that you seal up any new opening which you created.