6 Standout Features On The Ford F-150 That Every Buyer Should Know About

Pickup trucks used to be purely functional, but now they go far beyond a simple bed and cabin. These days, they're multi-functional luxury vehicles designed to make life as convenient as possible for owners. Ford's F-150 has topped the U.S. truck sales charts for over 40 years, and continues to offer an extensive range of features to its customers. The vehicle can still serve a practical purpose and is a common sight on building sites, but it can also be a daily driver or even act as a pretty pricey fun mobile for recreational driving.

Some of these features make tasks like maneuvering a trailer simpler, others will assist you while driving on a highway or off-roading. There's even a feature that will help people out on a building site, while making camping more comfortable too.

Here are six of the coolest features you'll find on a 2024 Ford F-150. Some of them come as standard on certain trims, while others are optional extras. We've highlighted some of the best you can currently get, and they should all be considered if you're out looking for a 2024 F-150 or any other truck

While a truck tailgate can be handy when you need a bit of extra bed length, or if you're loading something particularly heavy, it can also get in the way of things. That's where the "Pro Access" tailgate comes in. This feature allows you to open a door in the center of the tailgate horizontally and use the gap to access the bed. The door has three stopping points, set at 37, 70, and 100 degrees. The first stopping point allows access while not swinging out enough to hit the handle of a trailer hitch, while the other two give you more room to get into the bed if your truck isn't hauling anything at the time.

The feature is available on several of the truck's trims. It's an optional extra on the Lariat and Tremor trims, but comes as standard with the Platinum and King Ranch editions of the truck. The system does add some extra weight to the vehicle, about 62 pounds to be exact, but that includes its automatic open and close feature. It isn't exactly a new concept, the "doorgate" goes back decades, but Ford's current effort is remarkably well executed.

In terms of durability, a hinged door is always going to be weaker than one solid piece. However, Ford's engineers claim that the pro access tailgate undergoes the same sort of testing as Ford's regular tailgates. You can sit on it, jump on it, pile things on it, and slam it without any issue. There's also a lockout in place, so you can't use the tailgate as an impromptu dunk tank when the regular tailgate is lowered. 

Trucks don't just have to be practical. You can have a good amount of fun in them too, especially if you take your truck offroad. This is where the various offroading features come in. The F-150's offroading features include a number of driving modes, like the aptly titled "offroad," which can be used to tackle trails and scramble over rocks. Then there's Baja mode, ideal for people who want to blast through the desert, or drive along on other unstable surfaces like gravel or ice. The driving modes disable or tweak certain driver aids like traction control, as well as adapting the throttle response and the vehicle's suspension. 

Cameras line the outside of the vehicle, allowing you to get a 360-degree view of what is going on around you. Offroad mode also displays the front-facing camera on the central display, along with a pair of lines that show where your front tires are going.

A few new features have been added lately, namely Trail Turn Assist and Trail Control. The first locks one of the back wheels, allowing the truck to pivot around it and reducing the turning radius drastically. The second is basically offroad cruise control, though it can also be used to set up a one-pedal driving system, should you want that.

While backing up with a trailer attached may be second nature to some drivers, it can be a daunting process for others. Ford has employed a system that takes a lot of the stress out of maneuvering with a large object in tow. This comes courtesy of its pro trailer hitch assist feature, which allows you to position whatever you're towing via a camera and a small dial on the dashboard. Simply twist the dial in the direction you want the trailer to go, and the vehicle will manage the steering for you. You will still have to control the pedals yourself, but the hard part is quite literally taken out of your hands. Some preliminary setup is required, and the trailer in question's measurements still have to be entered into the system. Once that's all together, the hard part is over.

The on-board cameras also serve to give you a great view of the trailer's position, with the feeds being relayed to the large central display Ford puts in their trucks. All in all, this system turns what is traditionally a two-person job into a simple task.

Traditionally, if you needed power on a campsite, worksite, or another remote location you would throw a gas generator in the bed of a pickup truck and drive it to wherever that power is needed. Ford has removed the need to do this in its hybrid trucks, by making good use of both the battery and the engine.

The system draws power from the truck's battery, and can use the engine to keep that battery fully charged. Pro Power Onboard isn't a unique idea, but is an immensely practical one. It's also implemented very well. A full tank of gas can power a campsite for up to 85 hours, and a heavy-duty worksite with welders, grinders, and people using plasma cutters for up to 32 hours. You can also generate power with the V8 version, though that's a bit more limited than the hybrid and electric options. The F-150 Lightning can also power your house in a pinch — though the setup costs could be prohibitive.

Ford claims that the maximum output is 9.6 kilowatts, though that's only possible with the F-150 Lightning. A hybrid powertrain can churn out up to 7.4 kilowatts of power, and is only limited by the amount of fuel available –  meaning it can outlast the EV version of the system should you have a few jerry cans handy.

The pickup is a popular vehicle format, and as the vehicle style's popularity has increased, the ways in which people use it have changed. So while the large bed in the back would have been filled with tools, or produce, or recently deceased animals — now it's equally likely to contain sports equipment, or a family's weekly grocery haul.

Unfortunately, pickup beds themselves are not too well suited to smaller items, or other objects that can rattle around in a large open space. So those bags of groceries have a good chance of spilling everywhere if you put them in the back without any restraints. This is where bed dividers come in, you can use them to section off areas of a pickup bed and make it more suited to storing small objects.

Ford has acknowledged this, and added an increased number of grooves and notches to the walls of its pickup bed. These can be used to hold dividers made by the company itself, third party options, or even custom dividers that you can make yourself with a few planks of wood. Either way, it's an easy way to tailor your truck's storage to your own exact needs. Ford has also included an extra storage cubby near the tailgate, which you can use for sporting accessories, tools, safety equipment, or other small items that are useful to have in your truck.

Full self-driving is still seen by many as the next big leap in the automotive world. However, that leap will involve clearing plenty of legislative, safety, and technical, barriers. For now, we have varying levels of self-driving system. Ford is currently sitting at "Level 2" which will maintain a set speed, keep to the center of the lane, slow down when it encounters traffic, speed up when that traffic clears, change lanes on request, and suggest a lane change if the adjoining lane is clear and the car in front is slowing you down. It will also do all of this hands free.

The system is an optional extra on several of the F-150's trims and a few other Ford vehicles. It's also a recurring cost, as it requires a subscription as things stand. "Bluecruise" costs $75 a month or $800 per year. When purchasing the system, there's also an option to subscribe for three years at a price of $2,100.

While you are hands free, there are still safety features in place. Drivers are expected to keep their eyes on the road and be ready to step in should the system not work as intended. A warning will be displayed if the sensors notice you looking where you shouldn't be, or if a driver is using a cellphone instead of paying attention.

You may be wondering if many of these features are unique to Ford and the F-150. The answer is, "not really." Things are pretty tight in the pickup truck world, and nothing here is entirely unique. However, Ford does things slightly differently, and that might make a difference for many customers.

For example, the Pro Access Tailgate is similar to RAM's "multifunction tailgate." As similar as they are, they're not exactly the same. While they both hinge out like a door, Dodge's effort consists of over half the tailgate, while Ford's is simply the middle section. Ford argues that its method allows for greater accessibility, especially if a trailer is attached to the truck.

The offroading features, and the cruise control portion of offroad one-pedal driving particularly, are somewhat unique to Ford as things stand. Plenty of other companies have features that will automatically apply the brakes when you're going down a steep gradient, and GMC has a very similar one-pedal system. As for what's better, Ford's efforts are slightly different, and whether it's better or not may come down to personal preference — as is with Level-2 self driving. Ford is one of a handful of companies offering the system, but it's less overly safety-conscious than the likes of BMW.

If you seek practicality, Ford may have an edge. If you want extra steps for your own good, you may be better off in a Beamer.