Why Ford says new high-tech features for its Super Duty trucks will save marriages

DETROIT — Let's acceptable a scene: A pickup operator and their spouse, the motortruck successful reverse, attempting to align the hitch shot connected the pickup with a coupler connected the trailer. "A small left. No, your left. No, YOUR left. OK, present a small right. Never mind. Let's effort it again."

That acquainted headache, among others, is wherefore Ford Motor is souping up technologies connected its astir costly pickups to marque the vehicles much manageable for newer owners and easiness large symptom points for seasoned motortruck drivers.

The Detroit automaker is adding features to its 2023 Ford Super Duty lineup to boost transaction prices of the trucks and easiness difficulties with immoderate of the vehicles' astir important functions: towing and carrying/hauling.

"This is truly astir making the motortruck safer for our customers, for equipment, for immoderate you're towing. It's astir productivity. It's astir ease. It's astir redeeming marriages," said Tim Baughman, wide manager of Ford's commercialized business. "With our caller trailer-tow features, I'm definite we'll beryllium redeeming a mates marriages based connected what it tin present do."

Many pickup owners, particularly newer ones, look headaches specified arsenic determining however overmuch value they tin safely enactment successful their vehicles oregon hitching trailers to their trucks, according to Ford.

The second challenge, specifically, tin origin narration troubles, arsenic it tin instrumentality 2 radical and respective tries to get positioning of the trucks and trailers close for towing — similar successful our all-too-common but fictionalized script above.

"Our squad is obsessed with our customers," Baughman said. "This is astir lawsuit knowing and lawsuit obsession. And everything successful this motortruck is purpose-built."

Ford says 96% of its customers tow with its F-250 to F-450 Super Duty pickups, which are larger siblings to its well-known F-150 trucks. A bulk besides usage the vehicles to haul dense loads successful the beds of the vehicles, which commencement from astir $44,000 and tin tally much than $103,000, depending connected the model.

To assistance with hitching and hauling, Ford is utilizing technologies specified arsenic caller camera features, automated assistance and astute value taillights.

Ford's caller "Pro Trailer Hitch Assist" takes the hassle retired of the process. The motortruck automatically backs up and aligns the hitch shot to the trailer receiver. The diagnostic is modular oregon disposable connected respective models, starting astatine $1,035.

"It's to assistance instrumentality the symptom away," said Aaron Bresky, Ford Super Duty main exertion officer. "People person to tow for recreation and work, and the much we tin instrumentality the symptom out, it becomes much natural."

The 2023 F-Series Super Duty trucks tin tow betwixt 14,000 and 40,000 pounds, depending connected the truck.

Beyond towing oregon trailering, Ford's Super Duty pickups can themselves haul a lot, up to 8,000 pounds, depending connected the model. That includes each the people, cargo and immoderate objects that whitethorn beryllium successful the furniture of the pickup.

But having to conjecture oregon cipher however overmuch you're hauling tin beryllium tricky, particularly erstwhile you person passengers successful the conveyance oregon you don't cognize however overmuch your cargo weighs.

Ford's reply to this occupation is thing it calls "Onboard Scales with Smart Hitch," which debuted connected the 2021 F-150. The strategy uses scales successful the conveyance to find the full payload/weight of the vehicle.

Drivers tin usage the vehicle's infotainment surface oregon app to find the payload, but Ford's besides offering a much unsocial mode of doing so. The vehicle's taillamps airy up successful antithetic levels to fto an proprietor cognize however adjacent they are to reaching the vehicle's full payload limit.

If the conveyance is implicit its certified payload, the apical barroom volition blink, alerting the proprietor that they whitethorn request to rethink what they're hauling oregon ditch a rider oregon two.

The taillights besides tin beryllium utilized to equilibrium a trailer with the vehicle, besides known arsenic a trailer lingua weight.

The Onboard Scales with Smart Hitch is disposable for $650 connected Lariat models and modular connected higher-end trucks.

The simplest caller diagnostic is simply a rearview camera mounted to the apical of the vehicle's tailgate. While it faces toward the entity erstwhile the gross is up, it provides a wide presumption of what's down the conveyance erstwhile the tailgate is lowered, offering an other acceptable of eyes erstwhile an proprietor is hauling thing longer successful the furniture of the vehicle.

While each caller vehicles are required to person rearview cameras, Ford is the archetypal to instrumentality specified a camera that is utile for erstwhile the tailgate is down. Standard rearview cameras connected American pickups look toward the crushed erstwhile the tailgate is lowered.

The enactment besides comes with built-in sensors that enactment with the camera to notify drivers erstwhile their lowered tailgate is approaching an object.

The caller backup camera and sensors are modular connected higher-end trims but not disposable connected entry-level and lower-priced trucks.