[Econobox]

That new cargo shelf in the EcoSport's trunk weighs only 6 pounds, but it can hold nearly 700 pounds of cargo thanks to its honeycomb design. It's also environmentally friendly in construction with 100% recycled paper and water-based glue.

 

[WeeSUV]

If it's made from cardboard, what happens when you accidentally get the cargo shelf wet? Will its structural integrity be compromised and it won't be able to support as much weight anymore?

 

[GoGreen]

That's definitely a good question. But hopefully they've thought about that through it's construction as it's not really a rare occurrence for someone to have their cargo area get wet. Especially what if you were shampooing the all the carpets and what not. It must be able to hold up to a certain extent of course. In cases of a flooding.. it would, like anything else, probably be wasted.

 

[Econobox]

I assume Ford has thought of this and added a waterproof layer over the honeycomb before upholstering it. Seems like a basic requirement that engineers would have thought about. Can't see myself needing the floor when I'm used to just throwing things in the back and it reduces the cargo space by a few inches.

 

[GoGreen]

That is true but it looks like it could come in a little handy. For example, I could install 2 shallow mount 12inch subwoofers under the floor, and still have maximum trunk space!

 

[Econobox]

That use for the cargo shelf may be a more common use than protecting your eggs from getting crushed. Great idea actually and you may be able to cut a hole into the shelf and install a mesh of some kind so you can still hear the subwoofers even with the shelf down, just won't sound as good.

 

[WeeSUV]

With the age demographic this vehicle is aimed towards, I won't be surprised to see a lot of mods involving that floor. Nobody mentioned this yet, but there's two heights you can set it to. That means you can store a short vase or other delicate pieces under there and stack more on top.

 

[GoGreen]

Ugh just thinking about carry vases gives me the shivers. Now this is definitely solely due to my piss-poor planning, but I've had at least 4 occasions where I've had vases, or plants in the car whilst trying to transport them... they've never survived yet...

BUT I definitely expect a lot of audio systems under there.

 

[workingclasshero]

Someone who really wants to play it safe can keep a hard case under the shelf, that way no matter what you have under the shelf its protected. But journalists have yet to test these, odds are they'll have a field day testing the weight capacity.

 

[WeeSUV]

Someone commented on the video about the weight that the shelf was shown to handle. the shelf is rated for 700 lbs, but only 400 lbs were stacked on top as those bags are 80 lbs each.

 

[GoGreen]

700lbs is a heck of a lot of weight and I can guarantee I'll never have anything remotely close to that heavy in the trunk on top of that shelf. That's extremely impressive.

 

[workingclasshero]

Someone commented on the video about the weight that the shelf was shown to handle. the shelf is rated for 700 lbs, but only 400 lbs were stacked on top as those bags are 80 lbs each.

Odds are they just wanted to simulate what someone would be doing on a day-to-day basis and not exactly test the shelf to its rated threshold - the entire video is like that.

We'll have to wait for some publications to run a load test, doubt Ford will do it. Plus do they even need to?

 

[WeeSUV]

If they're going to tout the shelf's 700 lb capabilities, may as well show it in real world application and let us see that it won't sag under the weight. Most of the time we won't approach its rated threshold, but it's good to know what it can handle for those occasions. Maybe someone will test it at some point.

 

[GoGreen]

I really don't think they need to show it... I mean, someone is most certainly going to put it to the test and YouTube it but how many people are really going to look at it and try to relate it to what they use it for. Unless you're carrying around Anvils, it's unnecessary to know lol.

 

[Econobox]

They never did mention the two shelf heights did they? Wonder why as they were fine with telling us the weight allowance of the shelf. I'd like to put those cube storage organizers in there so things don't slide around.

 

[GoGreen]

Nope, but they did mention 3 different heights.

I did manage to find a measurement of the surface area. It is 38.5inches by 25.25 inches

 

[Econobox]

There's three optional heights? I thought it was just two as I only saw two levels where the cover can rest on.

 

[GoGreen]

Apparently we were both wrong haha, upon further investigation, I got this off of the Ford website itself:

The parcel shelf can hold any of four positions in the cargo area to best suit a driver’s needs:

• In the lowest position, it serves as a load floor for maximum storage
• In the middle position, it creates a secure storage area beneath the floorboard
• In the high position, the area underneath increases to create a cargo floor that lines up with the fold-flat second-row seats
• Removed and stored vertically against the back of the second-row seats

https://media.ford.com/content/ford...cosport-suv-cargo-shelf-inspired-by-bees.html