2024 Ford F-150's Pro Access Tailgate: Here's how it works

There’s a new tailgate in town, and Ford is calling it the Pro Access Tailgate. The folks over at GM and Ram have both put forth their revolutionary takes on fancy tailgate tech, and now Ford finally has a version of its own on the 2024 Ford F-150.

The big party trick on display here at the Detroit Auto Show is the middle portion of the Pro Access Tailgate, which swings out like a single barn door. Unlike the Ram Multifunction Split Tailgate, Ford’s version swings open the center while leaving equal portions of the tailgate both to the left and right of it in place. And no, those portions don’t swing out.

The point of a sideways-swinging tailgate is the same in the F-150 as it is in other trucks that offer it. You can walk right on up to the edge of the bed without having to lean across a flat tailgate, allowing for easier loading and unloading of awkward items. That said, Ford’s version of the swing-out tailgate ultimately leaves you with a narrower opening than others because of the portions of the gate that stay in place when you swing out the middle section. Such a limitation may not be bothersome to your use case, but even if it is, the tailgate will drop on down as it traditionally does for wider loads.