Leaked details on Ford’s 2020 Bronco

Details on Ford’s 2020 Bronco have been sparse, but information often trickles out about the automaker’s upcoming products from third-party companies working alongside Ford. According to the profile for an engineer at a consultancy firm, one which appears to be working with Ford on the new Bronco, the truck will be equipped with a variety of advanced off-road features including the following: Off-Road Navigation, Adventure Capture, Convoy Communications, Real-Time Tire Pressure Monitoring, Rear Seat Occupant Alert, and On-Board Scales.

Off-Road Navigation is not a surprising feature, since Ford has already deployed the system overseas on the Ranger Raptor. According to Ford Europe, the feature works by leaving “digital breadcrumbs” in the navigation system so that drivers can find their way back after leaving the beaten path. On the Ranger Raptor, the system drops a virtual pin on the map every second, producing a pretty detailed log.

Adventure Capture sounds like a data recorder application—possibly an off-road version of some of the race track performance data recorders currently on the market. It’s likely this system captures video from built-in cameras and overlays data such as pitch and roll for each video clip.

Convoy Communications is likely an application that allows for communication between Broncos that might be traveling together. There could be some sort of radio link between the trucks, but our bet is that the system will be integrated either through the infotainment system or via the Ford Pass app.

Real-time Tire Pressure Monitoring is fairly self-explanatory; however, it’s important to note that immediate updates would go beyond the standard tire pressure monitoring systems available on new cars. This system would be of great benefit off-road, where quickly diagnosing a deflating tire could mean the difference between a mild inconvenience or a more permanent camping trip.

Rear Seat Occupant Alert is slowly spreading across new cars and is a way to make sure that children are not left in the rear seat when the driver departs the car.

On-Board Scales, on the other hand, are fairly unusual when it comes to passenger vehicles; they are mostly relegated to large commercial vehicles that need to abide by weight limits on highways. At this time, we’re mystified as to why or how a Bronco driver would implement such a feature—maybe there’s an application during setup or perhaps off-road.

Based on this small leak of features, it sounds like Ford is preparing the Bronco for serious off-road duty and wants owners to be able to capture their off-road adventures. We have reached out to Ford to confirm these features, but a representative stated they do not comment on speculation about future products. 

That need not stop you from offering your thoughts, however. What do you expect from the 2020 Bronco? Let us know below.