What to Know About the Ford F-150's Pro Access Tailgate

This split-tailgate design makes it easy for owners to reach into the truck's bed.

Benjamin Hunting | 

Apr 9, 2025 | 2 min read

Ford

When Ford refreshed the F-150 truck for 2024, it introduced a new option: the Pro Access Tailgate. In addition to opening downward like a traditional tailgate, it has an access-panel door in the middle that can swing outward, allowing you an easier reach to items in the bed.

Ford

The Pro Access Tailgate Puts You Closer to Your Cargo

The Pro Access Tailgate features a panel measuring 37 inches long that opens like a door. The panel's position in the center of the tailgate allows owners to load items directly into the F-150's bed without having to lean over an open tailgate or drag items across it.

The door opens from the driver's side out and swings as far as 100 degrees away from its closed position. It has two other natural stops — one at 37 degrees and another at 70 — so owners can still access the bed through the tailgate opening when the truck is hooked up to a trailer or confined in a tight space, such as a garage.

The stops also prevent the door from flinging open, limiting the risk of it swinging into something unintentionally.

Ford

The Tailgate Has a Work Surface and a Cupholder

Due to its door, the Pro Access Tailgate doesn't get the pop-out integrated step found in some other F-150 tailgates. Instead, Ford widened the ledge beneath the license plate to serve as a foothold. It's also possible to order a retractable under-bumper step to make it easier to get into the cargo area.

It's worth noting, as well, that you don't have to use the access panel if you don't want to. The full-width tailgate will lower just as you'd expect using either the center release button or the key fob.

Additionally, when opening and closing the gate in the traditional way, you have power assistance, which is helpful given that the tailgate itself weighs more than 60 pounds. With its cupholder molded into the plastic and laptop-friendly flat work surface, the tailgate makes for a useful mobile office or picnic table once down.

Ford

The Pro Access Tailgate Is Available on Higher-End Trims

You can tell if an F-150 has the Pro Access Tailgate simply by looking at it. If you see two vertical cut lines that effectively split the tailgate into three pieces, it's almost certainly the Pro Access design.

This tailgate is standard on the high-level King Ranch, Platinum, Tremor, and Raptor F-150 versions. It's optional on the Lariat model.

Benjamin Hunting

Nearly two decades into his career as an automotive journalist, Benjamin has had his hands greasy, his hair blown back, and his heart broken by more than one project car. In addition to his work at Capital One, he has contributed features and reviews to Motor Trend, Car and Driver, Hagerty, Driving Line, Inside Hook, Super Street, European Car, Roadkill Magazine, Motor 1, The Drive, the Toronto Star, the National Post, Business Insider, NAPA, Autoblog, Automotive News Canada, and AutoGuide. He is also cohost of the Unnamed Automotive Podcast and cocreator of the Code 45 and Dead Air graphic novels. In his spare time, he's a friend to vinyl and enjoys keeping the shiny side up during track days.