Ford enlisted a trained Kodiak bear to test its latest security tech. The demo showcased alerts, cameras, and remote monitoring tools. Many functions require connected services and data sharing with Ford. Tag the Kodiak bear is awesome at his job. That’s the real takeaway after a demonstration put on by Ford. The automaker recently hired the roughly 800-pound bear actor, whose resume includes appearances on Yellowstone, to attack an F-150 Platinum. In the process, it hoped to prove how good its new Ford Security Package is. According to the company, Tag shook the truck, clawed body panels, smashed a window, and even figured out how to open a door. Frankly, that’s impressive. The bear is impressive. The truck surviving the encounter is impressive. And the encounter sounds far more entertaining than watching another corporate presentation full of pie charts and buzzwords. The only problem is that now we want to see what happens when Ford replaces the bear with an actual car thief and if customers can get this service without agreeing to give up all their data for Ford to sell and give away to its partners. What The Security Package Actually Does To be fair, the technology itself deserves some credit. Ford’s security package includes alerts for potential cabin intrusions, opened doors, disabled hardware, and unexpected vehicle movement. Owners can also remotely access camera feeds, store footage in the cloud, disable vehicles starting through Start Inhibit, and contact a dedicated security call center. More: Nearly Every Automaker Is Selling Your Data None of that sounds particularly revolutionary on its own, but it’s certainly better than walking out to an empty parking space and wondering where your truck went. The interesting bit here is that pitting the package against a bear isn’t super applicable for the vast majority of owners. Today’s criminals aren’t typically smashing windows and hoping for the best. Many are using relay attacks, signal amplification devices, cloned keys, CAN-bus exploits, and other electronic tools that would probably leave poor Tag scratching his head. Undoubtedly, this demonstration shows that the truck can detect tampering. Beyond that, though, we’d love to see Ford really flex its muscles here. Put the package up against the sort of techniques that actual thieves are using today. It would’ve been a much more relevant test. Then again, it also would’ve been a lot less fun. The Privacy Catch Let’s not forget the other wrinkle here, too. Many of these features require owners to participate in Ford’s connected ecosystem, complete with active subscriptions, vehicle connectivity, and the collection of vehicle data. The irony is that many of these security functions could theoretically exist without manufacturers gathering quite so much information from drivers. Unfortunately, the modern automotive industry has largely decided that connected services and data collection go hand in hand. Ford isn’t alone there. Not even close. But it’s sad that to access so many useful features, one has to give up their own private data. Otherwise, they can’t have the feature at all. So while the security package itself looks genuinely useful, the biggest winner from this entire exercise may be Tag. The bear delivered exactly what Ford wanted – attention. And judging by the fact that we’re talking about a truck security system because a bear learned how to break into one, he earned every salmon he got afterward. Photos: Ford
