Ford Patents New Electric Slid(ing Pickup Bed)

by Tyler Wooley

March 14th, 2017 3:46 PM

ford patents new electric slid ing pickup bed

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]

#Bed #Extending #F-150 #F150 #Ford #Pickup #Sliding #SlidingPlatform

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3 of 54 comments

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!"

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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.

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- 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.
  
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