Load loss detector may warn of losses from pickup truck bed

Have you and your pickup ever reached your destination, only to find some of your load didn’t? It’s happened to these writers—somewhere along Arizona I-10, there’s a whole trayful of tools sitting by the roadside. One pickup manufacturer feels your pain. Ford’s load loss detector may warn of pickup bed losses.

Patent filed—Published last week

Don’t look for it in the 2024 models. And it’s just a maybe in the “Better Idea” company’s own toolbox. However, Ford has filed for a patent for what they call “load loss detection capability.” The news was outed by the “Blue Oval” watcher, Ford Authority. Filed on September 19, 2022, and only published on March 21, 2024, the Patent Office serial number is 009046.

Load loss detector may warn of pickup bed losses—Tells you where to go look

Here’s Ford’s trick. Put something in your pickup bed, the sensor system takes note. If the load “comes out of the bed,” the driver would get an in-cab notification. In a “gee whiz” move, the truck could “mark” a geo-location so you could find a turnaround to go find your load loss. Included in the patent filing is the potential of turning on your hazard lights and possibly slowing you down.

Ford’s idea of a load loss detector may warn you of a pickup bed loss—but only if they decide to put it into production. With a patent in place, it doesn’t look like any other truck makers will be rolling this idea out for a long while.

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