Earlier this year, I somehow performed a comedy of errors that left me stranded on the side of a busy Interstate with a U-Haul truck stuck in mud and a Ford F-350 Super Duty stuck helplessly on the highway shoulder. My original error? I left the fob on the cowling ahead of the windshield, and it launched off the truck into the dark of night, never to be seen again. Apparently, Ford and a famous cowboy have invented just the solution for clumsy people like me, and it’s so awesome and just a little bit funny that I cannot stop smiling. Never lose your Ford key again by wearing it!
Today’s smart fobs are pretty neat devices, and use a radio pulse generator and other clever technology to allow you to access and start your vehicle without even touching a key. In fact, you’ll find that vehicles with smart fobs don’t even have a physical ignition to slide a key into, even if you wanted to, but a switch that you press. I highly recommend reading my story on how fobs work, because these things are pretty awesome.
Losing your fob is a pretty huge deal. As I accidentally demonstrated earlier this year, if you start a vehicle with a smart fob and then somehow lose that fob, the vehicle might drive a shockingly far distance before it even warns you about the missing fob. Then, once you finally stop driving, the truck will brick itself wherever you stop. I’m not using “brick” in exaggeration here, either. The truck will shut itself off and leave itself in whatever state you parked it in. Left the windows and sunroof open? I hope it doesn’t rain, because you aren’t getting the windows back up again.
To Ford’s credit, it does offer FordPass, an app-based solution that will allow you to “break glass in case of emergency” and take control of your truck in the event of a lost fob. However, if you do not have access to FordPass, as might be the case in a rental, company fleet truck, borrowed truck, or press truck, you are screwed. Your only real option would be to have someone bring you the second key or pay a dealership to fix it, and that can cost you some big money.
Ideally, you’ll never lose or damage the expensive fob. You won’t be like me and carelessly leave your fob on the hood. You won’t accidentally destroy your fob in the laundry. You won’t lose the fob in the apparent black hole that is your couch’s cushions. But mistakes do happen. I’m not the first person to lose a fob, and I will not be the last.
Ford and a cowboy were clearly thinking of us forgetful folks with its latest accessory, the “Truckle.” Technically, this accessory was made to celebrate 50 years of F-150 trucks. However, Ford is also pitching it as the trick solution to make sure you never lose your key again. That’s right, Ford has a big ol’ belt buckle to keep your fob safe and sound, yee haw! Somehow, it gets even better from here.
Cowboy Buckles
The Detroit Free Press broke this story, and honestly, it’s just so great. The Truckle is a pretty elaborate piece that’s handcrafted from German silver and jeweler’s bronze with a hand-engraved Ford F-150 featured dead center on the front. On the backside of the buckle is a holder sized perfectly for a Ford fob. Sure, Ford is really advertising this for F-150 owners, but there’s nothing really stopping any modern Ford owner from using this belt buckle.
According to Ford, it partnered up with designer Andy Andrews to make the buckle. Andrews owns A Cut Above Buckles, a Utah-based maker of custom belt buckles. Andrews describes himself as: “A real cowboy, he was once a member of the PRCA as a bull rider. He has been in the western fashion industry since the early ’80s and has always had an eye for what is in style and for starting new trends.”
According to Ford, 71-year-old Andrews grew up farming and ranching in New Mexico, and learned how to drive on a Ford tractor before owning a series of vintage F-Series trucks. So, partnering up with Ford was apparently a pretty natural fit. Here’s what one of the shop’s other buckles looks like:
Ford gives more context:
Andrews, who grew up in New Mexico, is a lifelong cowboy and longtime Ford truck owner (he bought his first in 1969) who has rodeoed basically since he could walk. In the rodeo, he competed with Native American and Hispanic cowboys who were also incredibly skilled silversmiths. Andrews was curious and would watch them work, eventually teaching himself silversmithing in the 1970s and 1980s, making jewelry and learning to engrave.
After retiring from the rodeo, he moved to Los Angeles where he further developed his design and artistic skills, working with a sample maker named Ruben Delgado to bring his designs to life. Then, in 1999, he got his big break when his longtime friend Ronnie Williams — then the president of the International Rodeo Association — called Andrews.
He wanted to give their world champions something more memorable and offered Andrews a contract. The rest is, as they say, history.
A Cut Above Buckles started in 1999 and says its custom buckles are worn by cowboys and are often featured as trophies at rodeos and other cowboy competitions. Andrews says that each buckle is made out of a mix of precious and nonprecious metals. The company says it builds 300 to 500 buckles a week out of facilities in Mexico and one in California.
As for the Ford Truckle, which, Andrews says, is his first buckle that’s built to be functional, it’s a neat bit of kit. Your fob is secured in the buckle with friction, a lip, and a physical latch. From the Detroit Free Press:
“You can put your key fob in the buckle − all your remote features work while it’s in the buckle,” he said. “Once you have it in there, you’re not going to lose that key fob. You’re not going to be scratching your head (wondering) where it’s at. It’s right there with you in the Truckle.”
The level of detail is incredible, and includes a little bit of everything from tire treads and windshield wipers to a tiny Ford logo in the front license plate. Andrews says that the buckle is designed to be unisex, so anyone of any gender can rock this hunk of metal.
Each Truckle takes hours to make and involves heating the metal, shaping it with hammers, and engraving everything that you see. The only thing that isn’t entirely handmade is some of the buckle’s shape, as A Cut Above uses a die for dimensional elements.
Good For Any New-Ish Ford Fob
If you want a stylish way to avoid losing your key, Ford says the Truckle will work with any Ford fob that’s 2018 or newer. The buckle will set you back $200, and it’s on sale right now. Ford claims that they’re being made in limited quantities, but doesn’t give an exact number.
Is this sort of silly or weird? Eh, maybe, but I totally dig it. If you already have a sweet western look going on and love your Ford truck, I could totally see someone seriously wearing this buckle. Shoot, this buckle looks so cool that I could see some people who don’t even own a Ford rocking this thing. I wear dresses more than anything else, and I could see this big lump being a neat addition to one of my dress belts.
At the very least, Ford got my attention and made me smile to boot. I am so for creative ways to use fobs. Now, this makes me wonder, what is the coolest way to conceal a fob?
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