Photo: Ford - United States Patent and Trademark Office
A tonneau cover like no other. That is what Ford is preparing for the F-150. The carmaker filed a patent for a transforming lid for the load bed, and photos indicate it might look like what the Tesla Cybertruck has.
The Tesla Cybertruck comes with this radical design unlike any truck out there. The moment it was first presented, back in November 2019, it made everyone else think: How come we did not think of this? Well, except for cracking those windows with a metal ball and a baseball bat, actually.
The Cybertruck is all straight angles and angular design, but it also brags about its innovative features. And that tonneau cover is one of them. The lid can hold up to 300 pounds (136 kilograms) and is, most likely, the strongest in the segment. Elon Musk himself got up there and started jumping on it during Jay Leno's Garage show to prove that it was hard as a rock, strong as a bull, and anything in between.
Furthermore, it is extremely easy to fold up or roll down with the help of a button installed at the rear if you're outside the vehicle or a button on board if you are inside the vehicle.
But Ford Motor Company has filed a patent with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to show that it is reconsidering the tonneau cover and has filed a patent for one that might make the F-150 look a little (or more) like the Tesla Cybertruck. The Ford trucks are all shaped like a brick, which turns them into foes of aerodynamics. For electric vehicles, this means a shorter range. For the ICE-powered ones, it translates into pretty much the same: higher fuel consumption.
The convertible, foldable tonneau cover that Ford wants to build is specifically designed to steer air away from the body and reduce drag, thus achieving better efficiency, more than a conventional cover would be able to do.
The aero tonneau is made up of three roughly triangular panels. The system would feature a central sector that will remain in the load bed, covering the cargo box, while the sides go up to help reduce drag. This air-deflecting solution would bring a more aerodynamic design to the area of the tailgate, lowering the number of sharp edges.
Photo: Ford - United States Patent and Trademark Office
The system would be connected to the sensors of the F-Series model, so that the panels would rise or lower depending on the driving speed, for instance. Ford intends to make the new mechanism work with the already existing bed using special adapters and a hollow bolt that would allow installation.
The application indicates that hard materials such as polymer, fiberglass, aluminum, and composites would be used for the item. The other option would be vinyl and canvas, supported by a frame, but we have our doubts about such materials when it comes to using the Ford F-150 pickup truck as a workhorse.
You won't be finding this transforming tonneau cover at the dealerships just yet since it is just a patent filing. Ford has not rolled it out yet and is probably still flirting with the idea without having made a decision about putting it into production. But with FoMoCo having a new electric pickup truck in development, codenamed T3 and set to debut in 2025, it probably won’t take long until we see the transforming tonneau cover system implemented into a production model.
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