Maximizing Efficiency: The Benefits of a Retractable Tailgate for Pickup Trucks

  • Thread starter Thread starter Loren Booda
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Retractable tailgates for pickup trucks could potentially improve fuel efficiency by reducing aerodynamic drag during highway driving. The discussion highlights the inefficiency of maintaining an upright tailgate, suggesting that retraction could increase highway consumption by at least half a mile per gallon. However, some tests, including those by Mythbusters, indicate minimal differences in drag with the tailgate up or down. It was noted that an upright tailgate helps maintain a separation bubble, which can reduce pressure drag. Overall, the potential benefits of a retractable tailgate warrant further exploration.
Loren Booda
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Why don't pickup trucks come with a tailgate designed to retract (manually) before highway driving when practicable? It seems self defeating to have such inefficient drag as from an upright tailgate. I believe that by this retraction the truck's highway consumption would increase by at least 1/2 MPG.
 
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I'm not sure about the efficiency of that. Someone (I think that it was Mythbusters) did some tests that showed not a lot of difference in drag with the tailgate up or down. That's all that I have for now, since my memory is failing.
 
yes, they showed that tail gate up maintains a nice separation bubble behind the tail gate(towards the truck), and act as a boundary for incoming stream, hence reducing pressure drag
 
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