Ford Is Adding Onboard Scales For Towing To New F-150's

[Hemmy]

Ford is adding onboard scales to help determine payload, tongue and trailer weights.  I see a lot of talk on here about tongue weights when towing.  This looks like a really cool feature for towing.

https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/news/2021/04/28/f-150-adds-class-exclusive-tech-with-onboard-scales-to-simplify-.html 

[jjackkrash]

 I'm all for it.  That sounds like a great feature.  

[carguy79ta]

Not a Ford guy..but they appear to try to be the leader. GM...been a GM guy all my life..seems more content with being "competitive".  

[Slayer]

I find this very interesting.  I wonder what the effect of adding a level kit, a rear block, and some wheels and tires would do to this system?  I suspect it would throw all the calibration off.  

[oldjeep]

On the one hand - kind of cool.  On the other hand, just more gizmos to break.

[Hemmy]

11 minutes ago, Slayer said:

I find this very interesting.  I wonder what the effect of adding a level kit, a rear block, and some wheels and tires would do to this system?  I suspect it would throw all the calibration off.  

That was my first thought.  Somewhere there has to be a sensor or leveling device to determine the load.  Maybe there are manual calibrations you can do for any suspension modifications.
Curt has the "BetterWeigh Mobile Towing Scale."  This has manual calibration ability to factor in any suspension changes made.  https://www.curtmfg.com/part/51701.

 

[justgary]

The F-150s have had accelerometers in them for a few years.  Well, at least the 4x4 versions do.  The dash display will show you the angle that the truck is sitting, so it is possible that they have created an algorithm that is good enough to use for estimating tongue weight.  It should be pretty simple to calculate load from resting angles.  I haven't paid much attention to the display, but I'll check it the next time I have a load in the truck or a trailer hooked up.

[RyanB]

The dampening suspension might be nice. I don’t really see a need for the others?  To me it is just adding more cost to an already expensive truck. It will increase repair costs as well. 
 

If Someone is worried about going over payload on a regular basis they should be in a HD truck not a 150/1500. 

[MLBurns]

I can see this being used in court for accidents where the truck was hauling or towing heavy loads.

[Kojak]

3 hours ago, carguy79ta said:

Not a Ford guy..but they appear to try to be the leader. GM...been a GM guy all my life..seems more content with being "competitive".  

I wasn't a Ford guy until recently buying a 2018 F-150 with 3.5L Ecoboost. It tows phenomenally. 

I still can't believe that I've been converted over to Ford. 

[Sparky450]

2 hours ago, Kojak said:

I wasn't a Ford guy until recently buying a 2018 F-150 with 3.5L Ecoboost. It tows phenomenally. 

I still can't believe that I've been converted over to Ford. 

Give it time you, might change back!!

[Soon2BV]

part of the correct tongue weight calculation is the total trailer weight.  I wonder how that is factored? 

 

[justgary]

2 hours ago, Soon2BV said:

part of the correct tongue weight calculation is the total trailer weight.  I wonder how that is factored? 

 

That's a good question.  It could be by measuring the longitudinal forces (and dividing by the acceleration), but you would need to pull the trailer a little bit to do that.