If you were a Ford designer, what would you change on the F-150?

[Heliian]

The new Rangers are about the same size as my '05 Silverado 1500.

Trucks are now slightly bigger, I did a quick googling and your older 1500 is 8" wider inside. A new 1500 is only an inch or so bigger that the 05. The outside looks bigger, probably a bigger nose. I had a 1995 f150 super cab long box, it had 2 captains chairs up front, a massive center console and a bench in the back that was just as big as today's trucks. It was a massive boat, we called it the limo truck because it was so huge. The only thing bigger at the time was the f250 crew cab long dog.

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[dorbi]

Trucks are now slightly bigger, I did a quick googling and your older 1500 is 8" wider inside. A new 1500 is only an inch or so bigger that the 05. The outside looks bigger, probably a bigger nose. I had a 1995 f150 super cab long box, it had 2 captains chairs up front, a massive center console and a bench in the back that was just as big as today's trucks. It was a massive boat, we called it the limo truck because it was so huge. The only thing bigger at the time was the f250 crew cab long dog.

Interesting, I'm seeing exteriori dimensions that put the Silverado at 3" wider & 1" taller. Which is quite in line with my original statement of ""about the same size".

Back on topic, if I was in charge (which *no one* would want) I'd configure some cheaper Lightning options; regular cab, long bed, single motor, etc.

 

[ElectrifyingMe25]

The light bar. Hands down. I can't stand it.

The light bar could be modified by masking off all but 3/8".

Another idea for modifying the light bar is masking off the very middle part and allowing the top and bottom 1/4" to show. Using this design allows the top and bottom part of the light bar to merge with the part of the light bar over each headlight.

If you really hate the light bar, buy some color matching wrap and cover it up.

 

[Mach Turtle]

Lower front bed tiedowns. Who put those halfway up the wall, they're TIE DOWNS not TIE UPS and it makes hauling a bunch of 2x a real PITA!

-Zap

Wholehearted agreement with this. I ended up making tie(and bolt) down fittings that fit in the drain(?) holes in the front of the bed to hold kayaks, ladders, 2xN boards, etc.

On a related note, let's hope Ford keeps in mind customers who customize. Actions such as encrypting CAN bus communications will have only a small positive effect on revenue by blocking those who would purchase a lower trim model and add features; the negative effect of alienating those of us who like the tech and want to make our vehicles fit our lives will be much greater.

I'm sure the Ford folks have learned a lot from the Lightning and will make even better EV trucks when the next generation arrives. Hopefully our feature requests can help.

 

[Newton]

• 800V charging or better. Charging speed is the only real weakness of the Lightning, although for marketing I recognize that they have to increase the range.
• Option for a shorter cabin with a longer bed, more like the supercab. I have had people in the back seat exactly once.
• Quieter back up noise, put the speaker in the back so it doesn’t have to be so loud to pass the regulations
• A bit more informative, EV-oriented software. Something to make up for the inherent limitations of the guess-o-meters

That is about it, charging speed is probably the only thing that would make me consider buying a different one. It is not terrible.

 

[dorbi]

• 800V charging or better. Charging speed is the only real weakness of the Lightning, although for marketing I recognize that they have to increase the range.
• Option for a shorter cabin with a longer bed, more like the supercab. I have had people in the back seat exactly once.
• Quieter back up noise, put the speaker in the back so it doesn’t have to be so loud to pass the regulations
• A bit more informative, EV-oriented software. Something to make up for the inherent limitations of the guess-o-meters

That is about it, charging speed is probably the only thing that would make me consider buying a different one. It is not terrible.

Software really does seem like the biggest Achilles heal of the Lightning. Charging speed is meh, but not a big deal in my opinion.

*If* Ford gets it right for their new EV platform, that would be a huge step up in my opinion.

 

[B. Lane]

Design a center console door that will stay open until you WANT to close it. Allow a Lariat option that does not include the sun/moon roof BS. Put the phone charging dock somewhere where you don't store all your other crap and have to clean it out to be able to use it. Put better tires on at the factory.

 

[Robocop]

How about one or two 'fun' software updates pushed out to add a little pizzazz or excitement to the ownership experience.

I'd love to see something like a mild software mod to enable a zippy animated light sequence on startup or on approach to sex-up the front light bar. A variation of 'knight rider' swipe and/or the Audi-eque trickery would be pretty cool - which obviously one can toggle on and off to suit one's taste!

 

[ctuan13]

As far as the Lightning is concerned? I have a few:
- A column shifter
The fold down shifter is cool and tech wiz, but you know what's cooler, would allow the table to be deployed even while in motion and requires less engineering? A column shifter. This would also allow for bench seat options and other center console configurations.

- A bigger battery (even slightly)
This has been said a million times, but the Lightning's battery is just slightly too small for comfort at times, for me it's only really when towing. I'm not asking for the massive 212kWh batteries seen in the GM electric trucks, even a bump of around 20kWh to 150kWh would make enough of a difference that some of the nail-biter legs while towing my camper cross-country would become a non-issue. Plus additional energy for backing up the house or running my camper off-grid.

- More interior lighting
It's already ridiculous that I had to add back the center storage and glove box light on my 2022, that Ford foolishly deleted, but even with those, the cabin is just unnecessarily dark at night. My 2003 Mercury Marauder has footwell and door courtesy lamps, can we not implement those in the 2020s?

- Dog/Camp/Standby-running mode
Although I don't have a dog, I see the utility of such a mode and personally, when traveling cross-country, I often have food stored in the cab that I can't fit in my teardrop camper, it doesn't need to be refrigerated, but still can't get hot. So when staying in a hot climate overnight, I'll just turn off the power down timer and keep my truck "running" with the headlights switched off. The problem? There's no way to turn off the instrumental cluster or head unit display. This seems like such a waste and needless hours on these two displays, just to keep HVAC running.

- More rear-biased power distribution
Although AWD is awesome and I've never had any major issues with control on the Lightning, the front-biased power distribution is noticeable. On a traditional pickup, front biased power distribution might actually make sense considering the potentially 60/40 weight distribution front to rear, but the Lightning even unloaded being almost 50/50, for predictable control, I'd strongly prefer rear-biased power distribution unless a snow or low traction mode was selected.

- a true 50A 240V output from the rear inverter
30A 240V is nice, but 50A would unlock so many other opportunities for running large appliances, large campers/RVs and directly backing up homes.

- A J1772 charger lock
When my mom first got her EV6 that has an auto locking AC charging feature, I found it annoying when she would ask me to disconnect her car from the charger and I'd have to remember to bring the key with me to unlock it. But after seeing how many people have had vandals or just random opportunistic pranksters disconnect their AC chargers while public AC charging overnight, I see a lot more utility in that kinda feature.

 

[Rayden]

Design a center console door that will stay open until you WANT to close it.

Put the phone charging dock somewhere where you don't store all your other crap and have to clean it out to be able to use it.

These 2 for sure.

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