Future Ford Pickups Could Use Onboard Scales To Deter Theft

October 14, 2023 4:01 am

Ford Motor Company has filed a patent for onboard scales that could be used to deter theft in future Ford pickups, Ford Authority has learned.

The patent was filed on April 12^th, 2022, published on October 12^th, 2023, and assigned serial number 0322183.

The Ford Authority Take

The Blue Oval originally debuted its Onboard Scales feature in the 2021 Ford F-150, a system that’s able to measure the approximate weight of the payload in the truck and display it on the infotainment screen or FordPass app. That feature then spread to the Ford Super Duty, but it doesn’t seem as if FoMoCo is done developing it. In fact, the automaker has filed patents recently for ideas such as a vehicle-to-vehicle security system, an active wheel theft prevention system, and various other anti-theft technology, and now, this new patent aims to use Onboard Scales to help prevent cargo theft in future Ford pickups, too.

This seems like a natural extension of the Onboard Scales feature, coupled with existing bed-facing cameras that come equipped on many new Ford pickups. It also gives owners a way to help prevent their pricey items – such as tools – from being stolen from the bed of a pickup rather than having to worry about locking or strapping them down, or even going so far as to place RFID tags on all their valuables.

Instead, this system would be able to determine when items are taken out of the bed when the vehicle is locked and not in use, at which point it could activate automatically. If it detects that weight has been removed from the bed, it would activate the bed-facing camera and then transmit images/video to a secure server – or, perhaps the owner or even law enforcement. It’s a natural extension of an existing feature – one that makes quite a bit of sense – making it quite viable for use in future Ford pickups.

We’ll have more on this and all Ford patents soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for the latest Ford patent news, Ford business news, and continuous Ford news coverage.

By Brett Foote

Brett's lost track of all the Fords he's owned over the years and how much he's spent modifying them, but his current money pits include an S550 Mustang and 13th gen F-150.