Check Out the 2024 Ford F-150’s New Tech and Freshened Looks

• Ford adds a few cool touches to the refreshed 2024 F-Series, including an optional tailgate that opens two ways.

• For the first time, the F-Series gets a heads up display, and will be the first in North America to offer an available stolen vehicle service.

• Buying is made easier, too, with an ordering complexity reduced by 90%.

The F-Series has laid claim to the title of best-selling truck in America for 46 years running, so when it comes time to tinker with the formula that keeps it king of the pickup hill, Ford tends to abide by one rule: Try not to F it up.

For its 2024 refreshening, that means you’ll find a lot of simplification—from a reduction of build combinations, number of color palettes available per trim, and even one fewer engine from which to choose—but also some minor styling updates inside and out.

Given the unveiling of the 2024 truck at such a sensitive time—negotiations with the UAW are teetering on the brink of collapse as you read—and place—the swiftly withering (to put it kindly) North American International Auto Show in Detroit—Ford Trucks General Manager John Emmert made the politically prudent point of reminding us that “100% of F-Series trucks are built in America.”

(Note, only 50% of components are sourced from the U.S. or Canada, and every 3.5-liter EcoBoost engine is built in Mexico. Still, the point stands.)

New Base Power

Ditched is the former base engine, the 3.3-liter V6, replaced across the board with the 2.7-liter EcoBoost V6, a twin-turbo unit turning out 325 hp and 400 lb-ft of torque (vs. 290 hp and 265 lb-ft of the 3.3-liter).

The rest of the engine lineup remains unchanged, moving up from the 2.7- to a 3.5-liter EcoBoost, the 3.5-liter PowerBoost found in the hybrid, the Raptor’s High Output 3.5-liter, a 5.0-liter V8, and the top dog Raptor R’s 5.2-liter supercharged V8.

New Trick Tailgate

Perhaps the coolest new piece of hardware is what Ford calls the Pro Access tailgate, a nifty piece that opens conventionally, power-folding down as an extension of the bed, but much like we’ve seen on the Honda Ridgeline since it arrived on the pickup scene, the tailgate can also swing open laterally—at least part of it can.

Instead of swinging from the outermost latch points, however, a smaller inset part of the tailgate opens; think doggie or Dutch door and you’ll be close. This inset gate opens to the driver’s side only, for easier access to the bed contents if there’s only one person in the truck.

Maintaining access to the bed while towing is the primary reason for the Pro Access tailgate, allowing the tailgate to swing open to a series of set detents, the first at 37 degrees, which ensures it won’t hit the trailer or trailer jack.

Opting for the Pro Access tailgate, however, won’t allow for the pull-out step option, which remains available. It also produces a seriously heavy tailgate. Also, by only opening to the driver’s side, it actually makes access from the curbside while hitched to a trailer extra onerous.

New-ish Faces

Ford refreshed the front fascias across the lineup, with every model now getting standard LED front lighting. Premium trim F-150s, from Lariat to Platinum, see slight revisions to the how the lights integrate into the central grille opening, which itself gets a sleeker, more horizontal design.

On lower trims, Ford is switching up the front clip in more dramatic fashion with what it calls a coast-to-coast grille. The lights and grille opening work together much more cohesively, though it’s in the off-road-spec Tremor model where this effect works best, accented with a horizontal accent piece that runs from light edge to light edge.

New Trim Level, Sort of

The lineup remains largely familiar, starting off with the entry-level XL, moving through the mid-pack STX and XLT trims, and topped off with Lariat, King Ranch, and Platinum models. But replacing the Limited at the top of the heap is now called the Platinum Plus

The sportiest model of the standard F-150s continues to be Tremor, with the Ford Performance pair of Raptor and Raptor R setting themselves apart with their near-Trophy Truck levels of off-pavement performance.

More Hybrids for 2024

Ford says its hybrid truck sales have climbed 28.1% the first half of the year, and that fully 10% of all F-150s is sells are hybrids, so it is planning to “double the mix of hybrid trucks manufactured for the 2024 model year,” Ford says, while adjusting the base price of the PowerBoost package to match that of the 3.5-liter EcoBoost engine option.

The parity makes sense given the comparative specs: PowerBoost turns out 430 hp and 570 lb-ft of torque from a 3.5-liter twin-turbo V6 paired with a 35-kW electric motor, while Raptor produces 450 hp and 510 lb-ft of torque from its high-output 3.5-liter V6.

All hybrid models come standard with a 2.4-kW Pro Power inverter onboard, though Ford says the vast majority—almost 75%—of hybrid buyers opt for the 7.2-kW Pro Power upgrade.

Good to know for any F-150 buyer: A smaller, 2.0-kW Pro Power inverter is available on the gas trucks, too.

What’s Else Is New

Every truck will get 5G LTE connectivity, including a wifi hot-spot. Max towing is now up to 13,500 pounds (up from 12,500). And you’ll now find standard in every bed a tiny—like one single pair of gloves tiny—cubby built into the wall of the bed, accessible from the tailgate opening.

Also standard across trims is a 12-inch LCD touchscreen, which now matches the 12-inch instrument panel screen. And for the first time in an F-Series is an optional head-up display, which can be customized to project specific info depending on the mode of driving, like when in BlueCruise hands-free mode, while towing, or during off-roading.

Ford is also offering a stolen vehicle service for the 2024 F-150, which it says will be a first in North America.

And performance off-road models Raptor and Raptor R get revised Fox shocks that now sport dual valving, to offer better rebound control and adapt damping more quickly in off-road environments.

Optional on Tremor, Raptor, and Raptor R is a modular front bumper that can accommodate, in the Tremor, a 12,000-pound Warn winch, or in Raptor models, can be fitted with custom light bars.

Ford says the ordering process should be a lot easier as the automaker is streamlining the combinations available, reducing the complexity by 90%. For example, where there are currently some 40 different configurations for the Raptor, for 2024 that number falls to just six.

Complete pricing and specs should be released closer to launch, but the 2024 F-150 is available for ordering now, with production beginning early next year.

Share your thoughts on this refreshed for 2024 Ford F-150 in the comments below.