Ford Developing Second Midgate Pass-Through Design

Ford has filed a new patent application for a pickup truck midgate.

The first patent application was filed earlier this year and showed a design similar to one previously used by GM. This second patent, published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on September 17, was originally filed in 2020 and shows two slightly more elaborate alternatives.

In one version, the panel separating the bed from the cab springs up, creating a space where long items can be extended from the bed into the cab in a typical midgate fashion. However, the panels can also be mounted flush with the bed rails to create a flat work surface with power outlets.

Ford also dreamed up a gullwing-like arrangement in which both the rear wall of the cab and the rear window would spring upward to form a canopy over the cargo bed. Alternatively, Ford suggested, the entire truck could be wrapped in a camping tent, with both the cab and the cargo bed as enclosed living spaces.

Either setup would be very different from the midgates GM has offered in the past; GM introduced the idea in the Chevrolet Avalanche and Cadillac Escalade EXT-2 in the early 2000s, trying to split the difference between a pickup and an SUV with a midgate GM revived it for its electric pickups, including the Chevrolet Silverado EV and GMC Sierra EV.

Ford's own next-generation electric truck has been delayed, ostensibly to focus on hybrids and cheaper EVs, but when it debuts, it may at least use the midgate in another model, whatever the latest patent.