DETROIT — Let’s set a scene: A pickup driver and their partner, the truck in reverse, trying to align the hitch ball on the pickup with a coupler on the trailer. “A little bit left. No, your left. No, YOUR left. OK, now slightly proper. By no means thoughts. Let’s strive it once more.”

That acquainted headache, amongst others, is why Ford Motor is souping up applied sciences on its most costly pickups to make the automobiles extra manageable for newer homeowners and ease main ache factors for veteran truck drivers.

The Detroit automaker is including options to its 2023 Ford Tremendous Responsibility lineup to spice up transaction costs of the vans and ease difficulties with a few of the automobiles’ most necessary capabilities: towing and carrying/hauling.

“That is actually about making the truck safer for our clients, for tools, for no matter you are towing. It is about productiveness. It is about ease. It is about saving marriages,” mentioned Tim Baughman, basic supervisor of Ford’s industrial enterprise. “With our new trailer-tow options, I am certain we’ll be saving a pair marriages primarily based on what it will possibly now do.”

Many pickup homeowners, particularly newer ones, face complications equivalent to figuring out how a lot weight they will safely put of their automobiles or hitching trailers to their vans, based on Ford.

The latter problem, particularly, may cause relationship troubles, as it will possibly take two folks and several other tries to get positioning of the vans and trailers right for towing — like in our all-too-common however fictionalized situation above.

“Our staff is obsessive about our clients,” Baughman mentioned. “That is about buyer understanding and buyer obsession. And all the things on this truck is purpose-built.”

Ford says 96% of its clients tow with its F-250 to F-450 Tremendous Responsibility pickups, that are bigger siblings to its well-known F-150 vans. A majority additionally use the automobiles to haul heavy hundreds within the beds of the automobiles, which begin from roughly $44,000 and might run greater than $103,000, relying on the mannequin.

To help with hitching and hauling, Ford is utilizing applied sciences equivalent to new digicam options, automated help and sensible weight taillights.

Ford’s new “Professional Trailer Hitch Help” takes the trouble out of the method. The truck robotically backs up and aligns the hitch ball to the trailer receiver. The characteristic is commonplace or obtainable on a number of fashions, beginning at $1,035.

“It is to assist take the ache away,” mentioned Aaron Bresky, Ford Tremendous Responsibility chief know-how officer. “Individuals need to tow for recreation and work, and the extra we are able to take the ache out, it turns into extra pure.”

The 2023 F-Sequence Tremendous Responsibility vans can tow between 14,000 and 40,000 kilos, relying on the truck.

Past towing or trailering, Ford’s Tremendous Responsibility pickups can themselves haul rather a lot, as much as 8,000 kilos, relying on the mannequin. That features all of the folks, cargo and any objects which may be within the mattress of the pickup.

However having to guess or calculate how a lot you are hauling will be tough, particularly when you’ve got passengers within the automobile or you do not know how a lot your cargo weighs.

Ford’s reply to this downside is one thing it calls “Onboard Scales with Good Hitch,” which debuted on the 2021 F-150. The system makes use of scales within the automobile to find out the entire payload/weight of the automobile.

Drivers can use the automobile’s infotainment display screen or app to find out the payload, however Ford’s additionally providing a extra distinctive method of doing so. The automobile’s taillamps mild up in numerous ranges to let an proprietor know the way shut they’re to reaching the automobile’s complete payload restrict.

If the automobile is over its licensed payload, the highest bar will blink, alerting the proprietor that they could have to rethink what they’re hauling or ditch a passenger or two.

The taillights additionally can be utilized to stability a trailer with the automobile, also referred to as a trailer tongue weight.

The Onboard Scales with Good Hitch is accessible for $650 on Lariat fashions and commonplace on higher-end vans.

The only new characteristic is a rearview digicam mounted to the highest of the automobile’s tailgate. Whereas it faces towards the sky when the gate is up, it gives a transparent view of what is behind the automobile when the tailgate is lowered, providing an additional set of eyes when an proprietor is hauling one thing longer within the mattress of the automobile.

Whereas all new automobiles are required to have rearview cameras, Ford is the primary to implement such a digicam that’s helpful for when the tailgate is down. Customary rearview cameras on American pickups face towards the bottom when the tailgate is lowered.

The choice additionally comes with built-in sensors that work with the digicam to inform drivers when their lowered tailgate is approaching an object.

The brand new backup digicam and sensors are commonplace on higher-end trims however not obtainable on entry-level and lower-priced vans.