Can Your Car Back Up The Trailer By Turning A Knob? Ford Does.

It is the age old pain in the butt. Attaching your vehicle to the trailer of the boat, or fifth wheel. It historically has always taken two people, one to drive, and one to direct the traffic making sure your tow hitch and the trailer make it to their destination safely. This has become a little easier with the invention and addition of backup cameras, but now Ford has made it easier than ever to back up your trailer simply by turning a knob.

It is always nice to be able to haul cargo in your truck. It can also be a pain to those who have friends or neighbors without one, but that’s a little off topic. Trucks offer conveniences that cars simply cannot. They can haul just about anything you may need to get to your home, and tow all those cool toys to the lake or campground.

Trailering is an awesome invention because it allows you to do so many things, but it has not always been easy. Ford is now offering Pro Trailer Backup Assist in some models. This system has been in development for about five years and gives great promise to make backing up the boat into the lake so much easier.

So how does it work? The system taps into your Ford’s electric power steering and you have to “train” the truck’s computer to work with any trailer you may possibly hookup to your truck. This process takes about 10 minutes to complete. All you have to do is take a few measurements, add a black and white sticker to the hitch so that the backup camera can keep track of what the trailer is doing, and you are ready to go.

The system can store info for up to 10 trailers as long as 33 feet (measuring from the hitch to the middle of the rear axle.) Now all you have to do is turn the knob on the dash and the truck takes over from there, steering and controlling the vehicle speed with the gas and brake pedals. Crazy right? The rear camera gives the computer a reference angle using the sticker and limits the truck’s rearward speed as the angle increases.