Toronto, Ontario — Toyota has recently patented an application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for a truck bed cover with an air bladder to secure cargo.
The patent specifically describes how an air bladder would be attached to the underside of a bed cover on a truck to help prevent items from shifting inside the bed while the vehicle is moving.
The air needed to inflate the cover would be supplied by a compressor housed between the inner and outer walls of the bed.
Once inflated, the bladders would take up enough of the remaining space in the bed to prevent objects from moving around or vibrating.
Toyota also notes that alongside a potential use in trucks, the bladder system could also be applied to other vehicles with large cargo areas, such as SUVs
While there is no guarantee that this invention will ever make it to a manufacturing stage, Toyota claims that for newer vehicles, “what is needed are other cargo stabilizers that can also be used for other functions.”
