The simple form of a door, which can only be opened and closed, is hard to improve. You can turn the door over and open or close it. This has been the standard way to do tailgates on trucks for a long time. With the Pro Access Tailgate, Ford’s newest feature for the F-150, which is a tailgate with a little swing-out door built right in, the company hopes to make that idea even better. The simple tailgate mostly stayed the same as cars, which have gotten better lately. People who want to buy an F-150 in 2024 must first decide what they need the truck to do before choosing the Tremor Raptor, or any other type. Being honest about how you usually use your F-150 will save you a lot of money and time since the Pro Access Tailgate is only available on trucks below the top trim levels of Raptor and Raptor R. You might want to ask, “How often will I be bombing in the desert versus using the bed of my truck?” as the next question. If the answer to that question says that using the bed more often is the best thing to do, I suggest getting an F-150 with the extra Pro Access Tailgate. It’s a very useful feature. Even though it doesn’t look as good as a standard tailgate, Ford has come up with something that makes getting into the back of a truck easier. Along with a few other unique improvements, owning a 2017 F-150 should make it a better experience all around. The Ford Model A bumper from the late 1920s was the first thing that Ford said it had worked on for almost a hundred years. That makes me wonder if Ford knew that the tailgate would be better a hundred years later or if they were reacting to changes in the pickup truck business, some of which were not always good. The move toward vehicles that are taller and bigger and that come standard with crew cabins and narrower 5.5-foot beds has made a need for products like the Pro Access Tailgate. When Ford added the fold-down tailgate step in 2006, it was a way of implying that seats were getting harder to reach and that there needed to be a simpler method for getting into and out of the vehicle. Three things that a working vehicle must have are easy bed entry, easy carrying, and easy towing. Engineers had to keep these things in mind when they came up with any solutions for Ford. Ford’s newest answer to the age-old problem of having trouble getting into bed works pretty well. The Pro Access Tailgate’s built-in door can open all the way out to 100 degrees, with stops at 37, 70, and 100 degrees. The 37-degree opening is meant to stop trailer jacks while also making it hard for owners to get to the bed. The 70-degree angle makes the swing gate’s opening bigger, but it stays close to the jamb in places where entry is limited or when parking in tight spaces. Also, the 100-degree opening is the biggest and makes it easiest to get to bigger things. The door might only open at that point to keep the rest of the gate safe. Although the horizontal opening detents on the tailgate add style, they also keep the door from spinning around and hitting things like the trailer jack or another car parked in a small lot. They might also make it impossible for owners to reach into the bed to load or unload gear because the door is open. Ford wasn’t the first company to think that a truck bed entry door in the back would be a good idea, but it has made the idea better enough to set itself apart from Ram’s Multifunction Tailgate. To begin, the F-150’s swing gate opens from the side of the driver. Ford says this feature cuts down on the distance you have to walk to get to the tailgate button. It has a small button with a faint arrow on it. When you first use the Pro Access Tailgate, it can be hard to find the button that’s tucked under the tail bump and miss the small arrow that tells you what it’s for, but you’ll get used to it. “Compared to a conventional tailgate in the ‘down’ position,” Ford says, the clever new tailgate gives you 19 inches more room to reach into the bed. Also, truck drivers won’t have to stoop as low to get things from the bed, where the rails would normally press into their armpits, which can be uncomfortable. Ford has made it easier to get in and out of the 2019 F-150 bed by making the step cutout wider and the bumper lower. But the Pro Access Tailgate isn’t the only better thing. People who own F-150s can choose to add an extra step to the rear bumper that comes off with a hard press. The lock feels good and makes a nice thud. Bed dividers and a tonneau cover can add even more usefulness. The bed divider feature has a set of rails that let owners move the dividers around as they please. The pieces are meant to make the bed a more “usable trunk,” but if they were there all the time, they would probably get in the way when you needed the whole flat space. A small box placed under one or both of the rear wheel wells also adds extra storage room. Work gloves, bungee cords, and tie-down bands are for small things that people often leave lying around the bed and then forget about. The boxes have a locking system to make them safer. Yes, the Pro Access Tailgate makes it easy to get to these. All F-150 models come with one box, but trucks that don’t have Pro Power Onboard transformers (but not trucks with an eight-foot bed) come with two boxes. The Pro Access Tailgate, the wider and deeper bumper, and the extra step are all great additions to the F-150’s bed, but my favorite part is the small holes Ford made in the walls inside. By using these indents, owners can make their dividers out of cheap wooden planks. It’s a simple function that works really well. This is Occam’s razor for truck fans because it is a simple answer that works well. Choose the layout of your DIY dividers that you like best, and then put the 2X4s into the holes that you made. Great idea. The Pro Access Tailgate and some other features can be added as extras, but the bed indents are already there. Customers can, of course, choose not to buy the new tailgate if they’d rather save money by sticking with the older, simpler bumper. The F-150 Pro Access Tailgate costs $1,620, and the movable rear center step costs an extra $430. But for people who use their truck beds every day, the extra $2,000 or so might be worth it.
