Interesting video. Good to know the aluminum panels are actually reasonably thick. Definitely less thick in the sill area at the bottom of the doors; those can be easily dented by simply kicking your feet against them to remove snow in the winter, as several members have attested to.

 

I can't watch the video here at work but I can see the lead picture. In my opinion, you're going to have similar damage with steel or aluminum. The aluminum just makes it look a lot worse.

 

First, its important to note that cars have been built from aluminum for some time now. Audi started making aluminum A8s as far back as the early/mid 90s and Land Rover was making aluminum bodies/panels long before that.

Aluminum has different properties than steel so it has different design criteria to ensure that the body performs as it should in use and accidents. Certainly, Ford would exploit its advantages and mitigate its limitations, just as is done with steel bodies. I laugh every time I see the videos depicting "how easily" the aluminum is damaged. Well, they are exploiting specific weaknesses. Aluminum is easier to puncture and tear than steel so they exploit that in videos to try and scare people.

I fully expect that aluminum and composites will become common place over the next decade in automobile bodies and chassis. And I have every confidence that they will be safe and repairable. Just because its different doesn't make it bad.