File this in a long list of “Why hasn’t someone done this already?” Ford has a new truck patent that shows it is thinking outside the pickup cargo box, literally. It signals that the Dearborn, MI brand wants to make your truck’s bed rails do more than just look like a fancy ornament, which is what most people seem to use them for. The idea of the newly released patent is that the bed rails can raise and lower from inside the fenders using a pair of linear actuators, one for each stanchion and a pair for each bed side. These would lift the bed rails up to form a cabin-height rail that you can use to secure tall cargo, rather than rely on longer straps or laying it flat (where in some cases, you can’t without damaging it).
These deployable stanchions and linear actuators of the bed rails are secured to the bedside walls while guided and supported by a bushing assembly. To reinforce these parts, Ford describes a “reinforcement member” to bear most of the load on the rails into the bedsides, so it won’t just be thin aluminum or plastic these actuators are attached to. When lowered, these deployable bed rails do sit just proud of the bedsides, but there is a reason for that we’ll get to shortly.
The rails would also be used to secure cargo in the bed, so not only would you be able to hold taller cargo but the rails would pull down on the straps, using a current load sensor on the actuators to determine when the load is secure. If you’re worried about your cargo being seen from prying eyes, the rails can also unfold a “sheet” to block the view when it’s attached to the rails. While it doesn’t mention covering the back side near the tailgate, we’d imagine that something would also be deployed there, too. But that’s not its only party trick.
We mentioned that those bed rails would sit taller than the tops of the bedsides. Well, according to this patent, the tops of those rails can pivot and turn this into a deployable cargo rack with support rails made from those pivoting tops. As if that wasn’t enough, its final act is designed to help you load cargo from outside the truck.
One of the bed rails can pivot (are we the only one hearing Ross shouting “Pivot!”?) and turn these bed rails into a cargo crane. This means that Ford would most likely make these rails into something that could handle a decent load without an additional support structure. It also seems that the Blue Oval would make these rails rotate with some sort of assist as it describes this pivot being driven by an actuator, but we can foresee this simply being on some sort of bearing and using a locking mechanism to prevent the rail from rotating while lifting your cargo. It also wouldn’t be used to just load cargo into the bed, but also assist you to remove it from the truck.
When would we see this? Being a patent, there is no telling even if—let alone when—something like this will come out. This would be a huge innovation and convenience part to add to any pickup truck and not just Ford’s lineup. Again, it’s one of those things that makes you wonder why nobody has done this before, at least when it comes to the deployable bed rails.
We can see the difficulty in adding the cargo lift, but the ability to raise and lower the rails to make a full cargo rack is just one of those things that seems like a no brainer. Regardless of if the crane function comes out, we hope Ford is seriously considering making this bed rail system a reality.
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