mobile-menu-icon
Ford Authority

2019 Ford F-150 Raptor Debuts Automated Trail Control Off-Road Feature

The Ford F-150 Raptor – Ford’s high-performance flagship off-roader from the best-selling F-Series line – has been revised and upgraded for the 2019 model year, gaining a brand-new “Trail Control” feature that can automate the throttle and brakes to keep the truck moving off-road. Ford characterizes Trail Control as being “like cruise control for off-road driving,” and that’s essentially just what it is, maintaining a constant speed (as best it can) over all sorts of terrain, and even intelligently, systematically using every trick in the book to get the truck unstuck when the going gets tough.

The driver, not having to devote a large part of his or her concentration to manipulating the pedals and transmission, can focus more completely on steering through the trails.

2019 Ford F-150 Raptor rock crawling

The 2019 Ford F-150 Raptor’s Trail Control feature can be operated at speeds from 1 to 20 mph, in all available 4×4 modes. Not only can it help dig the truck out should it get stuck in deep sand or mud, but it can also automatically help the Raptor scale steep obstacles, vectoring torque between each of the wheels as needed to help it ascend, and controlling the pickup’s descent by judiciously applying the brakes.

The 2019 Ford F-150 Raptor, available from this fall, will continue to be powered by Ford’s racing-honed 3.5L EcoBoost V6, in this application serving up a stout 450 horsepower and 510 lb-ft of torque through a ten-speed automatic transmission with standard AWD/4WD. But unlike the powertrain, Ford’s new Trail Control feature won’t be exclusive to the Raptor. Instead, it will be made available on some models of the all-new, 2019 Ford Ranger midsize pickup, which arrives in dealerships early next year.

Aaron Brzozowski is a writer and motoring enthusiast from Detroit with an affinity for '80s German steel. He is not active on the Twitter these days, but you may send him a courier pigeon.

Subscribe to Ford Authority

For around-the-clock Ford news coverage

We'll send you one email per day with the latest Ford updates. It's totally free.

No Comments yet

Leave a comment

Cancel