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Ford Patented a Foldable Pillow For Passengers, It Looks Neat

Ford has an impressive activity when patenting inventions comes to mind, and the American brand’s ideas often get leaked online before they are announced.
Ford's sketch of a headrest that integrates a pillow 6 photos
Photo: Screenshot from Ford patent filing
Ford's sketch of a headrest that integrates a pillowFord's sketch of a headrest that integrates a pillowFord's sketch of a headrest that integrates a pillowFord's sketch of a headrest that integrates a pillowFord's sketch of a headrest that integrates a pillow
Evidently, not all patents become a reality, but it is nice to see what Ford’s engineering teams have thought about for the cars for the future. Some inventions involve improving certain aspects of a vehicle, while others focus on trademark and design applications.

The latest filing, published on Freepatentsonline, focuses on a new headrest design. It may not seem important, but that headrest integrates a foldable pillow. To the best of our knowledge, no other automaker has ever implemented a pillow in its cars that you could stow away in the headrests.

Luxury automobiles can be ordered with pillows in the back, which are positioned with elastic bands on the headrests, and they can be adjusted as the occupants desire.

However, if you decide to remove one of those pillows, where do you store it? Well, it looks like someone at Ford had this problem in his or her life, and drew up a solution. The foldable pillows created by Ford are not an innovation per se, because we see one of those foldable U-shaped items that people usually employ during longer flights.

They may not be the best pillows on Earth, but you can inflate and deflate them yourself, and they help with neck pain usually associated with sleeping in an airplane.

As Techcrunch remarks, Ford has noted in its patent filing that automobile headrests have not been designed to accommodate a comfortable “napping or dozing,” which leads to neck pains for the passengers who fall asleep during a trip in a car.

With self-driving vehicles just around the corner, one can understand why Ford would want customers to be able to sleep comfortably in its products.Moreover, this product can be helpful for existing clients, because most headrests could be replaced with the new model without additional modifications.

This patent was filed in August 2015, so the product should come to market soon if it has received the necessary approvals from management.
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About the author: Sebastian Toma
Sebastian Toma profile photo

Sebastian's love for cars began at a young age. Little did he know that a career would emerge from this passion (and that it would not, sadly, involve being a professional racecar driver). In over fourteen years, he got behind the wheel of several hundred vehicles and in the offices of the most important car publications in his homeland.
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