2023 Ford Super Duty F-350 Limited
Ford
DETROIT — Let’s set a scene: A pickup driver and their spouse, the truck in reverse, attempting to align the hitch ball on the pickup with a coupler on the trailer. “Slightly left. No, your left. No, YOUR left. OK, now just a little right. Never mind. Let’s try it again.”
That familiar headache, amongst others, is why Ford Motor is souping up technologies on its costliest pickups to make the vehicles more manageable for newer owners and ease major pain points for veteran truck drivers.
The Detroit automaker is adding features to its 2023 Ford Super Duty lineup to spice up transaction prices of the trucks and ease difficulties with a few of the vehicles’ most significant functions: towing and carrying/hauling.
“This is admittedly about making the truck safer for our customers, for equipment, for whatever you are towing. It’s about productivity. It’s about ease. It’s about saving marriages,” said Tim Baughman, general manager of Ford’s business business. “With our recent trailer-tow features, I’m sure we’ll be saving a pair marriages based on what it could now do.”
Many pickup owners, especially newer ones, face headaches equivalent to determining how much weight they’ll safely put of their vehicles or hitching trailers to their trucks, in line with Ford.
The latter challenge, specifically, may cause relationship troubles, as it could take two people and several other tries to get positioning of the trucks and trailers correct for towing — like in our all-too-common but fictionalized scenario above.
“Our team is obsessive about our customers,” Baughman said. “That is about customer understanding and customer obsession. And all the things on this truck is purpose-built.”
Ford says 96% of its customers tow with its F-250 to F-450 Super Duty pickups, that are larger siblings to its well-known F-150 trucks. A majority also use the vehicles to haul heavy loads within the beds of the vehicles, which start from roughly $44,000 and might run greater than $103,000, depending on the model.
To help with hitching and hauling, Ford is using technologies equivalent to recent camera features, automated assistance and smart weight taillights.
Easy hitch setup
Ford’s recent “Pro Trailer Hitch Assist” takes the trouble out of the method. The truck robotically backs up and aligns the hitch ball to the trailer receiver. The feature is standard or available on several models, starting at $1,035.
“It’s to assist take the pain away,” said Aaron Bresky, Ford Super Duty chief technology officer. “People need to tow for recreation and work, and the more we are able to take the pain out, it becomes more natural.”
The 2023 F-Series Super Duty trucks can tow between 14,000 and 40,000 kilos, depending on the truck.
Ford’s “Pro Trailer Hitch Assist” robotically backs the truck up and aligns the standard hitch ball to the receiver of the trailer.
Ford
Onboard light scales
Beyond towing or trailering, Ford’s Super Duty pickups can themselves haul lots, as much as 8,000 kilos, depending on the model. That features all of the people, cargo and any objects that could be within the bed of the pickup.
But having to guess or calculate how much you are hauling will be tricky, especially when you’ve got passengers within the vehicle or you do not understand how much your cargo weighs.
Ford’s answer to this problem is something it calls “Onboard Scales with Smart Hitch,” which debuted on the 2021 F-150. The system uses scales within the vehicle to find out the whole payload/weight of the vehicle.
Drivers can use the vehicle’s infotainment screen or app to find out the payload, but Ford’s also offering a more unique way of doing so. The vehicle’s taillamps light up in numerous levels to let an owner understand how close they’re to reaching the vehicle’s total payload limit.
If the vehicle is over its certified payload, the highest bar will blink, alerting the owner that they could must rethink what they’re hauling or ditch a passenger or two.
The taillights also will be used to balance a trailer with the vehicle, also often called a trailer tongue weight.
The Onboard Scales with Smart Hitch is offered for $650 on Lariat models and standard on higher-end trucks.
Latest available “Onboard Scales” measure and display the approximate weight of the payload within the Ford trucks. Load information is displayed in the middle touch screen, on the FordPass app or within the truck’s smart taillights.
Ford
Tailgate camera
The only recent feature is a rearview camera mounted to the highest of the vehicle’s tailgate. While it faces toward the sky when the gate is up, it provides a transparent view of what is behind the vehicle when the tailgate is lowered, offering an additional set of eyes when an owner is hauling something longer within the bed of the vehicle.
While all recent vehicles are required to have rearview cameras, Ford is the primary to implement such a camera that is beneficial for when the tailgate is down. Standard rearview cameras on American pickups face toward the bottom when the tailgate is lowered.
The choice also comes with built-in sensors that work with the camera to notify drivers when their lowered tailgate is approaching an object.
The brand new backup camera and sensors are standard on higher-end trims but not available on entry-level and lower-priced trucks.
Ford put a camera and sensors into the tailgate of its F-Series Super Duty pickups that will be used when the tailgate is down.
Ford
