Baby’s Got Back: Tailgates Can Make or Break a Truck’s Appeal
Today’s trucks have tons of useful features. However, a weird offset split tailgate by Dodge definitely isn’t going to be one of them.
Over the last century or so, we’ve been treated to some amazing advances in truck technology. Ford, in particular, has done a phenomenal job listening to its customers and implementing all the features that we ask for. That’s why today’s trucks have useful features like trailer backup assist, built-in tailgate steps, and even a console designed to fit a laptop. You might think, for a second, that the competition is doing the same. However, we recently learned that, well, they’re not. Just look at the all-new 2019 Dodge Ram, for example.
These recent spy pics from the folks at Dodge Forum show off Mopar’s latest hair-brained idea: a split tailgate. Yes, the same kind of feature you’d expect to find on soccer mom crossovers has now come to the mighty half-ton pickup. And the Lincoln Blackwood. And we all know how well that turned out. Except this weird, offset, barn door-looking thingy on the 2019 Dodge Ram is completely hideous to look at.
Apparently Dodge decided to keep the tailgate handle in the center where it belongs. So, their split tailgate line is off-center. And if that isn’t weird-looking enough, just check out that top notch panel fit. Dodge’s proposed tailgate for its 2019 Ram looks like something designed and built in the 1800s with a sickle and a trowel, not high-tech design software nor lasers, robots, and all those other wonderful things automakers use these days to make trucks that don’t look like they were drawn up by a five-year-old. With a crayon.
Dodge’s tailgate looks like something designed in the 1800s, not with high-tech design software nor all those other wonderful things automakers use to make trucks that don’t look like they were drawn up by a five-year-old with a crayon.
Apparently, Dodge has been working on this design for years. But why? What practical purpose could this possibly serve? Heck, has anybody ever even asked for this weird new design? Dropping a conventional tailgate takes up enough space as it is, and this would swing out even further. We simply can’t think of a viable benefit of a split-tailgate design, but perhaps we’re just traditionalists. Or more likely, the folks at Dodge, in their rampant effort to keep up with Ford, have finally lost it.
Check out some of our favorite Ford truck tailgates — vintage, modern, and modded — from Ford Truck Enthusiasts forum members…
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