Future Ford Vehicles Could Get Reverse Trail Turn Like Capability

Ford Motor Company has filed a patent for a reverse drive and dig mode that may be used in future Ford vehicles, Ford Authority has learned.

The patent was filed on June 13^th, 2023, published on December 19^th, 2024, and assigned serial number 0416894.

The Ford Authority Take

The all-new Trail Turn Assist feature debuted in the 2021 Ford Bronco and later expanded to include the Ford F-150 Raptor and recently-redesigned Ford Ranger. Trail Turn Assist reduces the turning radius of a vehicle by applying the brake to the inside rear wheel while completing low-speed, high steering-angle maneuvers, which is quite helpful in tight turns when driving off the beaten path. Ford has also published patents for a Tank Turn mode and a crawl mode with four-wheel steering in recent months, and now, they’ve been joined by this new filing for a reverse drive and dig mode that may be used in future Ford vehicles, too.

This particular feature would function somewhat like a “reverse” Trail Turn mode in that it could simultaneously apply forward torque to the inner front wheel of a vehicle and reverse torque to an outer front wheel, as well as a counterclockwise turn to the rear wheels (in a four-wheel steering equipped vehicle) and reverse torque to those same wheels. The system could also do precisely the opposite depending on what the driver wants to do, giving them the ability to execute a tight turn in either direction, on command.

As Ford points out in this patent filing, driving in reverse can be a bit confusing for some, particularly since they don’t have a great view of where they’re going, nor of the rear wheels and what direction they’re pointing in – which is precisely why this system would also include an extra camera for those purposes. This proposed system would take a lot of the thinking out of that process, and let the driver simply focus on conquering the trail they’re on, which could come in handy if this idea comes to fruition.