Ford Patents New Electric Slid(ing Pickup Bed)

Tyler Wooley
by Tyler Wooley

Because of Ford’s new patent, we may soon wonder how we ever got anything out of our truck beds.

Ford has filed for a patent for a “sliding platform” in the bed of pickup trucks. The platform will be powered by a drive assembly, labeled an electric machine, coupled to the engine and transmission, possibly from a hybrid F-150.

Ford has already announced that a hybrid F-150 is in the works for 2020, but hopefully we get to see this contraption sooner than that.

The tray will rest on two rails with rollers to extend and, uh… pull out a heavy load at any angle.

The platform could also be useful as a work table, and will be adequate in a variety of positions, thanks to a pin that can lock it in place.

It will also be equipped with a proximity sensor to prevent the embarrassing misfortune of extending at the wrong time, or if an object is in front of it.

The ease could make accessing equipment that much faster in an emergency situation, and as The Drive points out, emergency teams have been using technology like this since before Ford’s sliding platform conception.

[Image: Ford Motor Company]

Tyler Wooley
Tyler Wooley

More by Tyler Wooley

Comments
Join the conversation
3 of 54 comments
  • Zackman Zackman on Mar 15, 2017

    If Ford actually produces this, the Chevy guys will have a field day on a commercial dumping a ton of rocks into the bed from a front-end loader and see if it still works! "See? Their bed doesn't move and neither does ours!"

  • Djoelt1 Djoelt1 on Mar 15, 2017

    Have pickup trucks now become so tall that you can't reach over the side of the bed to get stuff anymore? How useless have these things become, such that something like this might be necessary? It's past time when the front clip of pickups should tilt forward like on the Viper so you don't need a stepladder to perform engine work.

    • Luke42 Luke42 on Mar 16, 2017

      Yes, they have. That's one of the reasons I didn't buy a full size truck to replace my Ranger when it was time to replace it. I really wanted another pickup truck, because I'm practical -- but my Ranger was a lousy kid hauler. An F-150 crew cab could have hauled the kids -- but there were enough usability problems (high bed, urban parkability) with F-150 that I gave up on trucks entirely and have been driving CUVs and minivans ever since. I miss the truck's capabilities now and then, but I'm glad I'm not paying for those capabilities with usability problems and poor fuel efficiency for 320 days a year.

  • Ajla If I was Ford I would just troll Stellantis at all times.
  • Ronin It's one thing to stay tried and true to loyal past customers; you'll ensure a stream of revenue from your installed base- maybe every several years or so.It's another to attract net-new customers, who are dazzled by so many other attractive offerings that have more cargo capacity than that high-floored 4-Runner bed, and are not so scrunched in scrunchy front seats.Like with the FJ Cruiser: don't bother to update it, thereby saving money while explaining customers like it that way, all the way into oblivion. Not recognizing some customers like to actually have right rear visibility in their SUVs.
  • MaintenanceCosts It's not a Benz or a Jag / it's a 5-0 with a rag /And I don't wanna brag / but I could never be stag
  • 3-On-The-Tree Son has a 2016 Mustang GT 5.0 and I have a 2009 C6 Corvette LS3 6spd. And on paper they are pretty close.
  • 3-On-The-Tree Same as the Land Cruiser, emissions. I have a 1985 FJ60 Land Cruiser and it’s a beast off-roading.
Next