Fueled by Caffeine wrote: Wow the keyboard commando's are out in full force here today... this is a cool innovation and it will help ford sell trucks. Complain all you want. It's a brilliant move. Kudos to Ford. Now how about you get off my lawn.
I could see where this thread was headed the second I saw the title.
ebonyandivory wrote: Not to rant but (major generalization ahead) men are getting wimpier every day.
This has been going on for the entirety of human existence. Every time an advancement is made, the necessary skill set to do something is decreased. But I would argue that things like grocery stores, electricity, and running water are all FAR "wimpier" of leaps to take than a device that simply makes something easier for people who rarely have to do it. Historically speaking, only wimps would actually care about such minor issues that have absolutely nothing to do with themselves or actively ensuring their own survival.
Fueled by Caffeine wrote:SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote:There is nothing stopping you from releasing the knob and backing it up yourself if something gets crazy. It's also useful for when you need to do something and your wife has to back up the trailer. It's a big WIN.Fueled by Caffeine wrote: Wow the keyboard commando's are out in full force here today... this is a cool innovation and it will help ford sell trucks. Complain all you want. It's a brilliant move. Kudos to Ford. Now how about you get off my lawn.Honestly, it is cool tech, but I would rather do it myself. There have been really tricky situations that I don't think I would want a computer trying to figure it out.
True, But that's not going to happen for me. My wife would never want to back a trailer up. 
SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote:Fueled by Caffeine wrote:True, But that's not going to happen for me. My wife would never want to back a trailer up.SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote:There is nothing stopping you from releasing the knob and backing it up yourself if something gets crazy. It's also useful for when you need to do something and your wife has to back up the trailer. It's a big WIN.Fueled by Caffeine wrote: Wow the keyboard commando's are out in full force here today... this is a cool innovation and it will help ford sell trucks. Complain all you want. It's a brilliant move. Kudos to Ford. Now how about you get off my lawn.Honestly, it is cool tech, but I would rather do it myself. There have been really tricky situations that I don't think I would want a computer trying to figure it out.
Mine does. That or she loads the boat on the trailer. I kinda just sit around while she turns heads at the boat ramp.
I need to time this but I wouldn't be surprised if we could go from couch to on the boat in under 8 minutes (excluding travel to the ramp...which is only 5 minutes away)
In reply to Driven5:
Not sure what you're getting at there but while I agree about the electricity and grocery store theory, their existence hasn't stopped me from knowing how to hunt for food and grow my own vegetables and losing electricity isn't a major inconvenience for me.
But you know I was referring to much simpler activities than that. You know I was referring to pumping gas and changing a tire.
So I'll stand by my assertion that a guy that relies on a vehicle to do his driving, backing or trailer-parking is tool-like. I use my share of conveniences but not being ABLE to do it yourself or not working to learn is... Not ok.
My wife can back her horse trailer waaaaay better than I can back my car trailer.
What I'm "getting at" is that choosing to use "much simpler activities", that coincidentally happen to be familiar to you personally, as your frame of reference is inherently making mountains out of molehills...Not to mention stacking the deck in your own favor.
Your statements also seem to imply that just because somebody is not obviously good at something that they likely have little to no experience with, means that they are also not willing/able to learn or not working to learn.
I rarely tow things, usually a handful of times a year. Pop- up camper here, utility trailer there. I can back up reasonably well with those, boat trailer no real problems. Long trailers are pretty forgiving. I've been known to use a empty parking lot and practice backing up into a "tight" spot between some lines so I wouldn't be that guy people watch back into a spot if I'm pulling a unfamiliar trailer or using someone else's truck.
But I once tried to back up a my brother in law's single tiny, old school stand up jet ski trailer at the ramp. Total trailer length from hitch tip to end, probably 8 foot or less. I couldn't keep the damn thing straight. Just looking at it made it jack knife. It was so narrow you couldn't see the trailer till it was already almost sideways, and without a jet ski on it, I could only see the very end of it out the hatch. It sucked. Felt like a idiot. Practice of course makes everything easy eventually, but many of us simply don't have exposure to lots of towing. For them, this may be a great feature.
Tiny trailers are a lot harder, particularly behind today's crop of full size (as in fully the size of a house) pickups with 5' high tailgates. I'd be surprised if you could hang a single jet ski behind a 2015 F150 and SEE the damn thing. Even with the tailgate down.
I think it's pretty cool tech, particularly as something where most of the components were already in place and it was just a new application. I kind of dislike the idea that it will probably come bundled with the HD trailer tow package - adding a few hundred dollars to what was a fairly reasonable package. OTOH, if you're buying a 2016 full size truck, a few hundred dollars is probably the least of your worries.
I admit, I might have been trolling part of the crowd here just a little with this thread...
I started with a 4wheeler and jetski trailer. 4 year old chiodos could do it, a modern man who needs a truck and trailer should be expected the same. Also does ford still put that yellow pop up stick in the tailgate so feeble whimpy men can still get in the bed?
I've spent time in parking lots backing up trailers. Once you know how the steering wheel inputs are supposed to work, it is really just a matter of getting familiar with your rigs. I think that is the part lots of people neglect- practice.
bigdaddylee82 wrote: I want to see it back up a wagon. I'm somewhat proficient at backing trailers, but even growing up on a farm backing a wagon was an exercise in futility for me.
I have some sweet trailer backing skills. Backing up one of those is a bitch.
chiodos wrote: I started with a 4wheeler and jetski trailer. 4 year old chiodos could do it, a modern man who needs a truck and trailer should be expected the same. Also does ford still put that yellow pop up stick in the tailgate so feeble whimpy men can still get in the bed?
I love my tailgate step. I'm 6ft 3in and the bed being at my chest makes it damn near hard to just throw a leg up and step up onto the bed...
Mad_Ratel wrote:chiodos wrote: I started with a 4wheeler and jetski trailer. 4 year old chiodos could do it, a modern man who needs a truck and trailer should be expected the same. Also does ford still put that yellow pop up stick in the tailgate so feeble whimpy men can still get in the bed?I love my tailgate step. I'm 6ft 3in and the bed being at my chest makes it damn near hard to just throw a leg up and step up onto the bed...
Same here. Plus, I'm fat. You can have my "man step" when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers.
Mad_Ratel wrote:chiodos wrote: I started with a 4wheeler and jetski trailer. 4 year old chiodos could do it, a modern man who needs a truck and trailer should be expected the same. Also does ford still put that yellow pop up stick in the tailgate so feeble whimpy men can still get in the bed?I love my tailgate step. I'm 6ft 3in and the bed being at my chest makes it damn near hard to just throw a leg up and step up onto the bed...
Yeah, the only thing those steps have to do with manliness is the size of modern full size trucks tending toward compensation for subaverage wedding tackle.
ultraclyde wrote: Tiny trailers are a lot harder, particularly behind today's crop of full size (as in fully the size of a house) pickups with 5' high tailgates.
They're pretty damn hard behind an e30 where I can actually see mine. I'm very experienced with trailer backing and usually very good doing it. But it sometimes takes 3-4 attempts to get my little tire trailer backed up the driveway into the correct position, lol.
I think the "Manly Patrol" forgot to point out that the guy was also driving a automatic and not a diesel....We all better get our quill pens out and send a hate letters to ford about using technology.
It amazes me that people will spend big money to avoid learning a skill they could master in an afternoon. It's not even a difficult skill, it's much easier than learning to ride a bike for instance. It's even easier than learning how to properly operate that boat they can't back down the ramp. Tech for techs sake, a sales gimmick to sell cars.
Good on Ford for designing it, but if you're too lazy to learn to back a trailer, you aren't a man. And since my wife can back a trailer, you aren't a woman either. Must be a monkey. 
Have you hard about those wimpy guys in their horseless carriages?
Can't shoe a horse, birth a calf, yoke a pair of oxen, plow a field, or gut a deer. Just want to ride around in 'dem fancy high-falooten machines.
What a bunch of girly- men!
SVreX wrote: Have you hard about those wimpy guys in their horseless carriages? Can't shoe a horse, birth a calf, yoke a pair of oxen, plow a field, or gut a deer. Just want to ride around in 'dem fancy high-falooten machines. What a bunch of girly- men!
I drive a miata and can do all that, your point is invalid. But ive removed ac, ps and the top stays up to increase my manliness everso slightly.
In reply to chiodos:
I think you know that your personal skills or lack thereof have absolutely nothing to do with the point I was making, and don't even begin to invalidate it.
There are a lot of really stupid comments in this thread.
chiodos wrote: and the top stays up to increase my manliness everso slightly.
Tops are for wimps. REAL men daily drive their Miata topless regardless of temperature or weather. Bonus points for the top being completely removed from the car, and double bonus points for their latest conquest riding along in the same condition as the car. 
In reply to Driven5:
My Miata has no top. It weighs sub 1900 lbs, even with the turbo setup AND nitrous.
And I am perfectly capable of backing a hay wagon.
Neither make me more or less of a man.
I feel like this has become that scene from The Breakfast Club where everybody tells what their talent is. Who can put lipstick on with their boobs? If I admit I can does that make me more of a man?
My mom needs this. Or she thinks she does. Tows once every 2-3 years. Hates it enough that this feature would sell her a new truck (or an SUV when they get this). It doesn't really matter how superior you feel when you back up a trailer, this will sell trucks.
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