If you’ve ever found having to reach all the way back into the cargo area of your SUV way too hard and a bit of a stretch, Ford may provide alleviation with a new system it’s just patented. The patent drawings show and detail electrically-operated conveyor belts in the floor of the trunk itself that you can move via some conveniently placed switches.

This way you could have items moved all the way to the back of the trunk at the mere push of a button, and when you’d want to get them out again, you’d push the other side of the button to reverse the conveyor. Do you think it’s too much and that it’s just evidence of general laziness among motorists? Or, do you think it’s a useful addition to the big trunk of an SUV or Wagon?

And, this system could be very useful for senior motorists who are not as limber and spritely as they once were and actually grabbing something from the very back of the trunk would be physically very difficult.

Ford calls the system, at least in the patent papers, the “third-row conveyor load floor,” a very descriptive name that accurately explains what it does.

So if you thought the Honda Odyssey’s trunk-mounted, in-built vacuum cleaner was a tad strange or BMW's automatic boot cover weird, think of your reaction when you’ll see your first load floor conveyor system in one of Ford's future SUVs.

Further reading

Read our full review on the 2018 Ford Escape.

Read our full driven review on the 2017 Ford Explorer.

Read our full review on the 2018 Ford Expedition.