Honda is patenting its own version of the mid-gate that is making a return on the Chevrolet Silverado EV and GMC Sierra EV pickup trucks.
First spotted by Automobile and Driver, a Honda patent application published by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on June 27, details what the automaker calls an “adjustable cargo area partition.”
Nevertheless it looks an awful lot like a mid-gate, albeit with some differences from what we have seen to this point on production vehicles.
Honda mid-gate patent image
As an alternative of completely folding all the way down to create uninterrupted space between the bed and cab, as within the General Motors’ mid-gate designs, Honda’s version consists of a divider that cane be moved forward and backward to change the length of the bed. Honda also suggests that the roof might be prolonged when the divider is in its rearmost position to offer more passenger space within the cab.
GM pioneered the mid-gate within the early 2000s with its Chevy Avalanche and Cadillac Escalade EXT, offering cab space akin to full-size SUVs of the time and pickup-like bed space in a single package. Nonetheless, these mid-gates left an open space within the cab when in use—something Honda’s design appears to avoid.
Honda mid-gate patent image
The mid-gate is making a comeback on the Silverado EV and Sierra EV, a pair of unibody electric pickups based on GM’s Ultium architecture. The production ramp-up of each trucks has been slow, nevertheless, with GM recently confirming that large-scale production of each trucks at a Michigan plant that when built the Chevy Bolt EV was being delayed until mid-2026.
Honda is not the only automaker considering a mid-gate. Ford has filed two patent applications for mid-gate pass-throughs. One was published by the USPTO earlier this yr, and one other surfaced in 2023 showing a mid-gate together with fold-flat seats.
This Article First Appeared At www.motorauthority.com
