I've saw this slots on my Platinum what's the purpose for it?

 

Is a tiny speaker mounted back there? I suspect an alarm of some sort.

Of course... it could be the Happy Wife feature: It emits a neutralizing spray when the Beano fails.

 

Man Tug.. If that's the case I need to order one ASAP!

 

No speaker or anything my wifes excursion also has it and there's also nothing back there.

 

The slots are for the Electronic Automatic Temperature Control (EATC) in the Excursion.

When you said "there is nothing back there", did you check your truck, or did you check your Excursion? There shouldn't be anything back there for the truck (unless your truck has EATC), but there should be a small thermistor connected to a small tube that allows the climate control system to measure interior temperature on the EATC equipped Excursion.

The slots were added to the truck dash in the summer of 2001, by consolidating into a common part that also saw the reduction in cubby hole width to allow for a power adjustable pedal switch. The 1999 through 2001 model years didn't have them, except for the late build 2001. All 2002 and up trucks have the slots, even though most trucks do not have EATC. Since the trucks and the Excursion share the same lower dash components, Ford used the same part in both vehicles.

 

Dang it! I kinda liked the mystery of not knowing. A couple times passengers asked and I'd spin some techno babble yarn and see how far I could take it. But now ya ruined it for me.

 

I'm 99% sure my 2000 F250 XLT has them, even though I definitely don't have EATC. I suppose its possible the dash has been changed, but I doubt it.

 

I wouldn't doubt that your lower dash has been changed, if it turns out that your truck indeed has those slots in the dash, and the build date of your year 2000 is prior to the spring 2001 (which it has to be, otherwise it would be called a "2001", since 2000 model year production ended in the summer of 2000).

As was said earlier, many trucks without EATC still got that lower piece with the slots, once that lower piece began being made with slots... and that didn't happen until after model year 2000 production closed. Not even the 2000 Excursions got that piece, because in 2000 (the first year of the Excursion) the EATC was not offered.

I just happened to be visiting inside the KTP plant right around the time that these slots were introduced, and one of the production managers at KTP who was quite enthusiastic about this particular detail explained it to me. I don't remember his name, as it was 15 years ago, but he was the same manager who campaigned to have the truck frame configuration code labels changed from black letters on white background to the less visible white letters on black backgrounds. That change was made around the same time as the slot cutting. Another note of 99-03 7.3L trivia.

 

Sometimes, I begin to think that you have access to all the daily notes from all of the engineer's and designers who were responsible for these kinds of details!!

 

yea, i was just thinking the same thing. Not that Im knocking in any way, as your comments are always informative, detailed, and spot on.... but dude..... how you know all this? haha...

 

I'll admit that mentioning the label thing borderlines a phone call to the mental health professionals... but it was the same guy, and he really had a point. The stark white frame labels were very visible from the street when looking at the front wheel wells. By changing the label background color to black so that only the letters were white, the label blended in with the frame better, and didn't stand out nearly as much.

 

Trivial, maybe... but it's the "invisible details" like this that add to (or detract from) the experience of vehicle ownership. There were a gajillion petty and important items on Stinky that annoyed me when I first bought him. Most of them are addressed, but nobody notices all of the differences, and I forgot half of them. Every time I meet a fellow SD PS owner, they spot a few differences here and there - but not always the same differences. It reminds me how much effort I've put into making Stinky a member of the family.

 

It reminds me of the good people here that one truck brought together to become a family.

 

I think that would make you the eccentric uncle that is keeper of family trivia, anecdotes and lineage.

I vote we change your username to UncleY2KW57.