Toys for Trucks: Ford's New Trucks Get High Tech

Ford announced today that the 2009 F-Series and E-Series, as well as its upcoming Transit Connect work vans, will offer a host of job-friendly features the automaker calls Work Solutions. Among them are an onboard computer with internet access and wireless printing, a scanner that can inventory your on-board tools, a telematics system to keep tabs on other vehicles in a small-business fleet, and a steel cable to secure items in the bed.

The onboard computer is packaged to fit in the same area as a navigation system. It includes a 6.5-inch screen plus a wireless mouse, stylus and keyboard. With subscription-based Sprint broadband, Ford says you can access spreadsheets and word processing documents from your home computer, make changes and print them from a portable printer. Naturally, the computer also has a navigation system.

The telematics system, called Crew Chief, tracks real-time locations, unauthorized usage and various mechanical diagnostics for other vehicles in a small-business fleet. (No word on whether owners can program their teenagers’ Mustangs to receive the same tracking.)

Ford’s Tool Link has bed-mounted scanners that catalog tools in the bed with stick-on electronic tags. To ward off theft of those tools, Ford’s Cable Lock system comes with an eight-foot steel cable that retracts into a box at the rear of the bed. It works like a bike lock — run it through the handles of your equipment and lock it in place.

Ford spokesman Alan Hall said the features will be available a la carte, though pricing wouldn’t be available until closer to their fall launch. Hall said Ford will make the features “very affordable,” much like it did with Sync, which is a $395 option. We’re guessing the onboard computer will be the priciest and Cable Lock the cheapest, but we’ll report more when we know more.