With 2015 F-150, Ford aims to improve on the most essential part of the pickup: the box

For the 2015 Ford F-150, arriving at dealerships before the end of the year, a team at Ford was not necessarily trying to reinvent the cart, but certainly wanted to improve upon it, said Alana Strager, a Ford F-150 program analyst who, with Ford engineer Adrian Aguirre, considered where the pickup bed came from and where they wanted it to go.

DETROIT, MI – The cart has been around about as long as history has been documented, with the practical, wheeled-tools from 2,000 years B.C. found in some museums.

Likewise, pickup truck beds have been carrying loads for anyone who needs to move sod, lumber or what-have-you from point A top point B for as long as the pickup truck has been in existence, a history that dates back at least to 1925 and a Model T with a rear bed attached to it.

For the 2015 Ford F-150, arriving at dealerships before the end of the year, a team at Ford was not necessarily trying to reinvent the cart, but certainly wanted to improve upon it, said Alana Strager, a Ford F-150 program analyst who, with Ford engineer Adrian Aguirre, considered where the pickup bed came from and where they wanted it to go.

"We looked at what makes a pickup a pickup," Strager said. "And it's the box, obviously."

Strager said one of the key ways in which she believes the bed of the 2015 For F-150 has been improved on is with a patented BoxLink system her team developed.

The BoxLink system has lockable, die-cast aluminum tie-down cleats that its developers say allow its users better flexibility and organization for their hauls.

That's in addition to having eight tie-downs instead of the four found on the 2015 F-150's predecessor. The BoxLink cleats can be used in three different locations, or cargo can be hooked up directly to the plate with bungee cords, an S-hook or E-track ring.

The four tie-downs in the middle of the box sides are for when coolers, toolboxes and propane tanks need to be hauled and can be strapped down. "You don't put it in the wheel well, you put it in the box sides," Strager said.

The system uses plates with cleats on them, kind of like a baot plate, to which the bungees or straps can be affixed. Those plates are lower in the bed, allowing room for the tonneau cover, Strager said.

The system, which can hold 600 pounds of force, is customizable with after-market parts, Strager noted. For a better idea of how it works, check out the video below.  

Ford said it also added segment-first cargo ramps that can be stowed along the sides of the pickup bed with the BoxLink system. They can then be mounted to the back of the bed on the tailgate to roll off ATVs, mowers or equipment.

The tailgate lowers with the push of a button on a key fob, intended to let customers with armfuls of supplies to access it without having to set their cargo down. For the first time, LED lights illuminate the cargo box. 

All these new features on the forthcoming F-150 come from on the street-level research. Strager said she has frequented places such as Lowe's or Home Depot for her studies. There, she finds a captive audience of people loading timber or tools and asks them what they like or don't' like about their pickups trucks.

Her experience in on-the-ground research began in her college days, when Strager's father was the program manager for heavy trucks at Ford. At the time, the automaker was struggling in this segment, according to Strager.

In college, Strager went to work for her father as what he thought would be a receptionist. Instead, he got an intrepid customer researcher. On her way to and from school, she would stop at truck stops off the highway and ask drivers how they felt about their rigs.

"I would go in there, and say, 'Hey what do you like?'" she said. Truck drivers would generally offer their thoughts freely, telling her what works and doesn't' work.

"I had a captive audience," she said.

She did this for some time until her dad told her to stop. That was only after his plucky daughter had garnered several ideas for ways to improve the heavy trucks at Ford. Now she's doing likewise with the F-150. 

The 2015 F-150 is arguably the most important vehicle launch for Ford this year, if not this decade.

With its more than 95 percent aluminum body and new high-strength steel chassis, the 2015 F-150 is up to 700 pounds lighter than the outgoing model. The weight reduction, according to Ford engineers, spawned numerous other improvements for the pickup.

The F-150 is manufactured at Ford's Dearborn Truck Plant in Dearborn, Mich., and Kansas City Assembly Plant in Claycomo, Mo. Dearborn production of the 2015 F-150 will start in the fourth-quarter, followed by Kansas City in 2015.