Ford Motor Company has filed a patent for a deployable roof rack that may be used on future Ford pickups, Ford Authority has learned.
The patent was filed on January 11th, 2023, published on July 11th, 2024, and assigned serial number 0227685.
The Ford Authority Take
Last spring, Ford filed a pair of patents revolving around different types of roof racks it’s considering – one, for a modular roof rack that could wind up being used on SUV models, and another for a powered roof rack that would make it easier to add accessories. Now, this newly published patent gives us a fresh design for a pickup-focused roof rack, one that may one day be capable of stowing itself away when it isn’t needed.
This deployable roof rack design may be destined for future Ford pickups, specifically, as it would be mounted behind the rear glass in the cab, protecting that portion from cargo in the bed that may want to slide forward. At the same time, that rack could also pivot upward and extend over the top of the pickup’s roof as well, doubling as a roof rack when the user needs to haul additional cargo.
The benefit here is that in today’s world, most roof racks are mounted in a more permanent manner, or at least, aren’t necessarily easy to remove quickly. Roof racks tend to increase wind noise inside of vehicles and can also cause clearance issues, so it’s certainly possible that more than a few pickup owners may want a better solution – one that enables them to take advantage of roof racks when they want, and not have to deal with the downsides when they don’t.
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