The 2024 Ford F-150 May Be A Transformer
Ford could be about to reboot its pickup beds.
The Blue Oval brand will be unveiling the updated 2024 F-150 in conjunction with Detroit’s North American International Auto Show in September and new patent filings suggest it might be hauling some very new features with it.
Ford submitted a series of patent applications on August 17 for several clever design elements centered around the cargo box.
Ford hasn’t announced any details about the mid-cycle redesign and camouflaged prototypes that have been seen testing in public don’t suggest there will be much to it aside from a refresh of the front and rear ends, but could be hiding something more interesting.
One is for storage and power outlet access compartments with drop down doors built into its outsides, like what you might find on an aftermarket service body. Rivian filed for a patent on a similar feature this spring. Ford’s other ideas are more of a … stretch.
They include mechanisms that extend the bed sides and floor to give a short or standard bed truck long bed capability on demand.
One example shows the extension sliding out of the sides at the rear like a cartridge, which also reveals extra side storage, while another depicts the bed rail moving with it, which opens up a pass through near the cabin that makes it easier to reach into the bed at that end. Powered actuators help with the processes.
Ford’s designers have also proposed a split tailgate that opens like barn doors and has tool racks built into it, along with new ideas for bed steps. One incorporates it into the tailgate, while the other replaces today’s available single step with two that drop-down from a slide-out floor extension.
The floor keeps on extending, too, into a ramp that an ATV or other wheeled vehicle can ride up and into the bed.
The Tesla Cybertruck concept was equipped with a tailgate ramp, but it is not yet known if the production trucks set to begin deliveries this fall have it.
Ford doesn’t comment on the potential for patents to come to fruition and there are no guarantees that the designs depicted in these will appear on the 2024 F-150, although the timing is interesting.
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It’s also possible that the features are being developed with the next-generation electric F-150 in mind, which will be an entirely new truck that’s set to debut in 2025.
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