2025 Ford Expedition: The story behind a new top-secret split tailgate project

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In the summer of 2021, Ford Motor Co. designer Micah Jones could hardly contain his excitement while at his son's soccer game — not because of the score, but because he observed the way other parents were using the back of their SUVs. Jones knew he was already at work on something that was going to make their tailgating experience better.

The games also inspired more ideas for Jones. He watched one couple each week as they would park and put the liftgate up, then sit awkwardly on the floor in the rear of the SUV with their legs dangling off over the bumper.

“They would do that every week, every game. It was nice because you could really glean from their experience," Jones said. "They had their water bottles or their soda next to them, they had some snacks around them. Basically, they used the floor of the vehicle to put things. That really inspired us to use our flat space really wisely."

Jones, who is the interior designer for the Ford Expedition large SUV, and other designers were set on taking tailgating to a new level by developing a unique "split tailgate" on the new 2025 Expedition. The tailgate opens in two parts, a top and bottom half to allow for better storage and to keep cargo from falling out. The Cargo Tailgate Manager package provides a panel that transforms the area into a two-tier storage shelf, or it becomes a table or a bench with a backrest for comfortable seating. The overhead liftgate offers protection from the sun or rain — and even has a privacy curtain that can be attached to the back.

"It definitely took a lot of work with the mock models and evaluating it," said Dustin Shedlarski, chief designer of Ford Interiors. "We kept pushing it further and saying, 'What else? What else can we do with it?' Micah and I could go back and forth everyday saying, 'It’s got to do more, it’s got to do more.' "

Bill Ford and Farley need an escort

The 2025 Expedition goes on sale in a few months starting at $61,700. The split tailgate is standard, but the Cargo Tailgate Manager package is $390 extra.

The concept for the split tailgate evolved from simple mock-ups of cardboard, foam spring and wood. As it was being developed, it was so top-secret that Jones and Shedlarski kept it hidden in Ford's confidential design studios in Dearborn, Michigan. The studios are on full lockdown with only certain employees in the product development building having access to them. Only designers get access to the studios, but engineers who want in must be accompanied by a design employee with badge access, Jones and Shedlarski said.

"It is definitely high security," Shedlarski said.

It's so secure that anyone else at Ford gets in by invitation only and with an escort. That includes CEO Jim Farley and Chairperson Bill Ford.

“I think they have free rein to go anywhere," Shedlarski said. "But they’d be escorted in because we’d want to be able to articulate to them what they are looking at if they are coming to review it.”

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The birth of 'linger longer'

The idea for the split tailgate was born in the summer of 2019 at a Ford-sponsored research event in southern California, Jones said. He and the design team went there to review different ideas that Ford's researchers dug up either from past research, observation or even just a hunch, Jones said.

There were crude mock-ups on disguised vehicles for the attendees to interact with while designers, such as Jones, listened and observed which ideas seemed to excite people. Out of it came the idea of "linger longer." Linger longer was the term Ford attached to the split tailgate project. It embodies the idea that many SUV owners like to hang around the tailgate of the vehicle so, "How do we make that a special place to get people to spend time there more often?" Shedlarski said.

"I think we were onto that concept when we went to the event, but seeing how people would interact with different tailgate concepts, different lighting concepts … it was pretty clear that we were on to something," Jones said. "We had a to-do list now as to how to make it better."

Even though Ford sponsored the event, the company kept that fact quiet and all the vehicles there — which were full-size SUVs — were masked to hide the brands. They had mock-ups inside of them such as seats that would fold or tailgates that would open up in unique directions and some lighting outside the vehicle. But the intention was to probe the idea of lingering longer at the tailgate and have more versatility, Jones said. Jones said they had to be anonymous and secretive, Jones said.

"We knew the product wouldn’t be coming out for a few years so we didn’t want anybody to tell their friends," Jones said. "We didn’t want our competitors to get in on what we were doing. Confidentiality is a pretty big deal in this business."

A simple three-step maneuver

Once back in Dearborn, Shedlarski said, the development of the split tailgate started with a small group of people and it was very hands-on.

"We had Micah, the designer, we had a lead modeler who would help us build the properties, and a bit of an extended team to question ourselves, try it out and push us to go further with it," Shedlarski said. "We kept going on with basic organization. The shelf system and how to get two-tier storage, and where do you put the shelf? You don’t want to take it out of the vehicle and store it so we found a way to put it kind of underneath the low floor to keep it hidden if you’re not using it."

The team also looked to current products for ideas. For example, the table feature came from Ford's Bronco Sport, which has a shelf that can be pulled out from the vehicle to become a table. It has legs to support the weight of gear or food.

"A big thing about sitting on tailgates is it’s convenient, but it’s not necessarily comfortable for sitting on for long-term seating," Shedlarski said. "So we really want a backrest to make this the ultimate tailgate seating area, so that’s where, with the panel, we kept playing with it: How do we function it? How do we make it easier for the customer to put it in different positions? Really it was just trial and error and we kept playing with it."

They finally developed a three-step process for the Cargo Manager: a shelf that converts to rear table and finally to seat with a backrest all with one fluid motion for the customer to do with ease.

"It’s a really simple, innovative product and we’re proud of just how minimal it is," Shedlarski said.

Solving a customer complaint

Even without the Cargo Manager, the split tailgate allows for the lower part to come down and serve as a tailgate that has been opened flat, covering the bumper, Jones said. It creates a smooth surface to sit on. The team found areas on the side of the tailgate that were flat to hold people's cups too, he said.

Most important, “We got a lot of verbatims and complaints from people that if they’re parking on an angled driveway and their tailgate goes up and there are wine bottles, those crash on the driveway,” Jones said. “The split tailgate is really interesting because you can program both upper and lower halves to open up together if you want. You can also just have the top half open with the key fob. That helps to contain things in the back."

The team wanted to build on that tailgate's advantages even more, Jones said.

"We have accessories such as a soft curtain that hooks to the sides of the tailgate and the sides of the liftgate and it essentially creates soft walls on the sides of you when you’re sitting there on the tailgate," Jones said.

The process of proceeding from an idea to a product

Jones said it was a fun engineering challenge to figure out how to add more functions, such as the curtain, without creating complexity and additional features.

"We looked around the area, ‘What can we hook onto?’ and conveniently on the tailgate there was a metal loop, and we said, 'OK we can hook a corner of the curtain on here and then on the inside bottom, you had some tie-down hooks, cargo hooks, so we can tie down here,' " Jones said. "It basically went around all four corners of this curtain and only one corner needed a special feature built in."

Jones said the designers did bring in engineers and accessory professionals for collaboration on more ideas for the tailgate. The ideas ranged from "clever aftermarket ideas you’d find on the internet," he said, to elaborate suggestions such as converting solar panels on the roof. The challenge became determining what was realistic to do.

Jones said designers must expand on concepts, then test the details to make it all feasible. Then, the process and cost of manufacturing has to be sorted out.

"Why did we want to keep adding more functionality to it?" Jones asked. "My mantra has always been maximize every investment. If you’re going to invest in something — some invention, something that moves, something special — really put the time in to maximize your opportunity there."

So will Jones take an Expedition to his son's soccer games this summer to show to the people he observed tailgating there a few years ago, he said, “I wish! I wish I knew them.” He merely watched them as they inspired an innovation.

Jamie L. LaReau is the senior autos writer who covers Ford Motor Co. for the Detroit Free Press. Contact Jamie at jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. To sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber