I'm approaching the two year mark with my truck and I'm still loving every minute of it. But I started making a list of features and options I'd like to see from Ford to take their trucks to the next level of awesome.

- "Stay on" feature for heat on outside mirrors: I had this idea a few weeks ago when driving home in a freezing-rain storm. It sucked having to remember to turn on the heat every 15-20 minutes (or whenever they turned off automatically). How about a "hold for 5-second" option to keep the heat on? Use this on the rear defrost as well.
- Lock box: I'd like to see a the space under the front or back seats better utilized and a lock box offered from the factory. There are some aftermarket options, but nothing for the 60/40 front bench that I have in my truck.
- In-cab heater: How about a small heater that pulls power from the engine block heater plug? I don't need anything to keep the cab warm, but it could just let warm air flow up the defrost vents and keep the windshield clear. It would only be on when the truck was plugged into the block heater.
- Move the upfitter switches: The upfitter switches on my truck are in a bad location. Either my wife hits them with her foot or I throw them on when I grab my coffee. Ford either needs to move them, or put some kind of secondary lock on them to stop the switches from accidentally being turned on.
- Power to the bed: I'd like to have a 12v and 120v plug in the bed of the truck
- Power to the cell phones: Since we all have cell phones, how about a cell booster for the signal strength? Some aftermarket companies offer these types of units.
- Empower the smart phones: I'd like a Sync system that integrates better with my iPhone (or any smartphone). Get rid of the DVD player, Nav system and satellite radio and let me just feed everything from my phone to the stereo. This would effectively make the stereo just a fancy display for the apps that I want to use. I'll run video, navigation and anything else wirelessly from my phone to the truck. This will likely require some new standards in the industry, but I think there is some great potential here (particularly when paired with the cell booster).
- Control water run-off from the windshield: This is a minor pet peeve, but the water that my wipers remove from the front windshield runs across the driver side window right at my eye level. A day or two of winter driving and I need to wash the windows just so I have a clear view of my outside mirrors. How about some small gutters or something to run the water up and over the top of the truck?

I'm sure I'll think of a few more at some point…but feel free to add your own.

 

They at least got this one covered very well with the 12'. Mine has 3 lock boxes. Under middle of front seat and both sides of rear with removeable divider. Pretty freakin' awesome has the most storage of any SD I have owned ( 4th one )

 

I said it in another thread, and I'll repeat it here: you know how the top of the door curves up to meet the roof? Hello Ford? Some of us get SNOW. Heck, the designers in Detroit aught to know this! In other words, the driver seat avalanche is one option I could do without!!!

 

amen brother! we just got like an inch here in NJ, i went out and opened my door and the snow falls right into the truck on my f$cking seat! Dam i hate that crap. Luckely thats all we got i hate removing five inches of snow off my seat in the morning

 

Love my '11 but one option I'd sure like to see is the Smart Key like on some of the other Fords so you keep the key in your pocket and just hit the Start/Stop button. I hate having to crane my head around the steering wheel everytime to find the keyhole.

Another would of course be to beef up the door locks. This lock punching thing is getting out of hand.

And who's idea was it to hide the hi-beam indicator behind the steering wheel? Fire him!

 

Rear window defrost
Rear power sliding window for super and crew cabs (they have them aftermarket, don't know if you can get it factory)

An aftermarket option I would like to see- a steel "Stormin' Norman" hood like what was popular on Mustangs in the 90's. I think it would go well with the contours of the factory SD hood.

 

My '11 has both of these, factory.

 

On my 05, the mirror heat is on all the time whenever the truck is running. There is no way to turn it off. I haven't looked at a newer model recently, but I'm assuming from the OP that they changed this to a switch?

 

My '05 was the same. My '11 has the switch on the dash now.

 

I agree with this one too. Ever hit your washer fluid with the window rolled down? It comes in the window, down the inside of the door, and in your lap.

 

My 03's mirror heat is always on, kinda like that, although the passenger side one isn't working right now (mirror fell out of the mount when some idiot knocked it in at a parking lot, at least it didn't break, but since then it hasn't adjusted right and the heat doesn't work.) I'm looking to buy a new passenger side tow mirror with markers in the future.

Love the lock box under the seat idea.

 

Mirrors - my '07 are also heated and always on. Not a good option, in my opinion. They get real dirty when driving in the rain, the heat evaporates the water, leaving the road grime on the mirror. I have been considering moving them to an upfitter switch.

 

in '08 they moved it to a button on the dash...

press the button and you get 20 minutes of mirror heat... A toggle option would have been better, then just have it toggle off automatically with the ignition, or manually by pressing the button again. What good does 20 minutes do on a 3 hour trip?

 

I have thought about a couple things too. One would be when you take the key out of the ignition there is a "cool down" period before the engine shuts off. When you run hard pulling a load down the freeway and pull off to a rest area, you don't want to leave the truck running with the keys in it, right? Remove the keys and lock it up, but leave the engine run for probably 5 mins to let the engine and turbo (if equiped) cool down. If someone DOES climb in, when the brake is applied the engine shuts off. (similar to an alarm system)

Second idea is to make the radio quiet down when an emergency vehicle is approching. Some people listen to the radio to a volume point where they cant hear an ambulance coming. Have a transmitter installed on the emergency vehicle and a reciever installed on all new vehicles. When the lights/sirens are going, the rescue vehicle sends a signal out that the vehicle receiver picks up and makes the radio volume lower. I understand there would have to be a LOT of infrastructure put into place before this idea would work, but they plan new things years in advance. You never know, it COULD save a life!

Aaron

 

I store my snow scraper/broom in the truck box (under the tonneu) so I can get that snow before opening any doors. In MN this year I could store the snow broom in the basement though.