Ford Bronco's New Roof Design Could Fix The Biggest Hassle Of Open-Air Driving
Bronco Owners Know The Routine
One of the Ford Bronco's major selling points, much like the Jeep Wrangler's, is its open-air driving experience, which allows owners to remove the hard top and doors. But even though the process is designed to be fairly straightforward, at least for the roof, switching to the open-air configuration can still be a hassle.
Now, Ford appears to be exploring ways to simplify the process after filing two patent applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office that could deliver an open-air experience without requiring owners to dismantle anything. First spotted by Ford Authority, one application, published under US 2026/0138426 A1, primarily uses an accordion-style roof, while the other, published under US 2026/0138425 A1, features transparent panels.
A More Flexible Open-Air Setup
Both patented roof designs function similarly: they can slide forward and backward, allowing only the front passengers, the rear passengers, or both to enjoy an open-top experience at the same time. They also avoid relying on motorized systems, which would require passengers to manually adjust the panels.
Compared with the current design, the patented designs would likely make the open-air experience less of a hassle. If it rains, passengers could simply slide the roof panels shut, unlike the current setup, which requires stepping outside to reattach the panels. That would be even more inconvenient if the roof panels were left at home to save cargo space.
The patents are limited to the roof itself, so removing the doors would still be more time-consuming, as the process requires a ratchet and a socket from the Ford Bronco toolkit, and the doors themselves can also be fairly heavy.
A Concept For Now
While these designs would offer a more convenient setup, they remain only patents, meaning Ford is not obligated to put them into production. Automakers can file patents for various reasons, including to prevent competitors from using similar ideas in the future. Nevertheless, it is still interesting to see the Blue Oval brand find ways to make the experience more user-friendly, as the effort required to remove the roof panels can discourage owners from doing so in the first place.
For now, both the 2-door and 4-door Broncos are available with removable hard tops, though the latter comes standard with a retractable soft top. The Bronco Sport does not offer this feature, as it uses a fixed-roof, unibody crossover layout.
Copyright 2026 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
This story was originally published May 27, 2026 at 11:00 AM.