Ford’s MyKey Limits Teen Driving

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Ford is using high-tech to lower parent’s blood pressure. Coming in 2010 as a standard equipment, Ford’s new MyKey will do all kinds of stuff to make teens safer drivers like limit top speed, limit stereo volume, constant nag reminders and muted stereo until seat belts are fastened and so on.

MyKey is appealing to parents of teen drivers, including 75 percent who like the speed-limiting feature, 72 percent who like the more insistent safety-belt reminder, and 63 percent who like the audio limit feature, according to a recent Harris Interactive Survey conducted for Ford.
 
you guys havent seen a high school parking lot in an affluent area. and these are the same kids who are likely to be cavalier about safe driving.
 
man, I would have HATED that when I was a kid!!! lol

I do have one legitimate concern though....

What if high speed is required? For example, you might be trying to get away from someone, etc....

Although such situations are not very common, they do happen.

I think a better solution is better parenting, but I do know how hard it is to get a kid to follow instructions.... lol

This could end up to be a good thing, a bad thing, or just an annoyance.
 
Wow, so how many teens are driving brand new cars?

In my area, a lot of teens get a brand new car from their parents. That is not saying anything about the parents. It just teaches the kid not to be responsible anyway. I never got a brand new car, my parents did not even buy my first car, I worked for it. This is something that a lot of teens do not learn, pride in what they have and earn. I only dread the day my son gets a license.

I think what Ford is doing is a good idea. This will help parents breathe easier while their teen is out and about. Maybe other manufacturers still follow suit.
 
man, I would have HATED that when I was a kid!!! lol

I do have one legitimate concern though....

What if high speed is required? For example, you might be trying to get away from someone, etc....

Try being nice to people :p
 
And I thought tickets for people who didn't wear seat belts was stupid...what is this?!

They have Drivers Ed for a reason. Parents should be teaching their kids better habits, and when all else fails, let the kids make decisions on their own. If they feel like speeding maybe they will get a ticket for it.
 
The problem with this is that they're not driving responsibly because they SHOULD, they're doing it because they have no choice. If you can't drive responsibly on your own (i.e. no excessive speeding, wear seatbelt), then you don't drive, period. As soon as these kids get a car that doesn't have these lockdowns, they're going to speed, drive recklessly, etc. These parents need to teach their kids to drive safely because it's the right thing to do - not because their car blocks it.
 
This is great. Too bad it can't be implimented in older cars short of adding a wood edge behind the gas pedals :D


As for the comment on who drives new cars... umm... an assload of spoiled kids. Also, keep in mind, this is a focus which is relativley cheap and would entice parents to buy new cars more with features like these.
 
The problem with this is that they're not driving responsibly because they SHOULD, they're doing it because they have no choice. If you can't drive responsibly on your own (i.e. no excessive speeding, wear seatbelt), then you don't drive, period. As soon as these kids get a car that doesn't have these lockdowns, they're going to speed, drive recklessly, etc. These parents need to teach their kids to drive safely because it's the right thing to do - not because their car blocks it.

While this is true, a lot of new drivers are not used to the concept of seat belts or monitoring the speedometer closley (they should be, but thats a whole diff story).

I'm just playing devils advocate here... honestly, anything that will ensure that I'm safer on the road is good for me. Now all they need is hot seat ejection for the drunk driving teens or perhaps automatic police notification of erratic driving ;)
 
man, I would have HATED that when I was a kid!!! lol

I do have one legitimate concern though....

What if high speed is required? For example, you might be trying to get away from someone, etc....

Although such situations are not very common, they do happen.

I think a better solution is better parenting, but I do know how hard it is to get a kid to follow instructions.... lol

This could end up to be a good thing, a bad thing, or just an annoyance.

This a legitimate concern. I think that better parenting is in order. I had one customer buy a new H2 for his son. His son disabled the Onstar in it so that his father could not track him on the GPS. While the father was trying to be a better parent, the son got around that and he got away with it until we figured out what was done. Sometimes being a better parent does not always help.

And I thought tickets for people who didn't wear seat belts was stupid...what is this?!

They have Drivers Ed for a reason. Parents should be teaching their kids better habits, and when all else fails, let the kids make decisions on their own. If they feel like speeding maybe they will get a ticket for it.

Drivers Ed does not always help. A parent cannot always be with the child at all times, so it is hard. I do agree that parents should teach better driving habits to their kids, but will that kid listen?

What happens when the parent has crappy driving habits as well? It is really a lose-lose situation.
 
Drivers Ed does not always help. A parent cannot always be with the child at all times, so it is hard. I do agree that parents should teach better driving habits to their kids, but will that kid listen?

What happens when the parent has crappy driving habits as well? It is really a lose-lose situation.

I agree but at the same time I really do not think that forcing them to drive responsibly is the answer to the problem.
 
I do have one legitimate concern though....

What if high speed is required? For example, you might be trying to get away from someone, etc....

Exactly, some jerk behind me started flashing some blue and red lights at me the other day.. scared me so bad I hit the go-peddle harder. :p
 
And I thought tickets for people who didn't wear seat belts was stupid...what is this?!

They have Drivers Ed for a reason. Parents should be teaching their kids better habits, and when all else fails, let the kids make decisions on their own. If they feel like speeding maybe they will get a ticket for it.

A lot of kids pass drivers ed to "get it over with" and get their license so they can drive. Not to learn how to drive.
 
this is nothing new, my first car was limited to 70-75 (depending which way the wind was blowing :p )

now if they can tie a system like this into gps where it would limit you to zone speed limits that would be intresting
 
A lot of kids at my old high school got brand new cars. I remember this one kid got caught and arrested for possession of weed (he was selling it) and his mom grounded him from his V10 F-250, instead he had to drive his mom's new Tahoe to school. This key won't help some parents.
 
I agree but at the same time I really do not think that forcing them to drive responsibly is the answer to the problem.

I can agree with this as well. What happens when teaching them how to drive responsibly does not work? You can take their license away for a month, but what happens after that month is up? So many unknowns in this situation.
 
Lets see how long it takes until someone hacks it...

Not long at all. A customers son figured that to get the Onstar to turn off, just yank the fuse... So it will not surprise me when someone hacks this to.
 
this is nothing new, my first car was limited to 70-75 (depending which way the wind was blowing :p )

now if they can tie a system like this into gps where it would limit you to zone speed limits that would be intresting

Interesting indeed!

I dunno, sounds like a very creative tool to help parents and their children, but I whole-hearted agree with the people on here posting stressing about better parenting.
 
this is nothing new, my first car was limited to 70-75 (depending which way the wind was blowing :p )

now if they can tie a system like this into gps where it would limit you to zone speed limits that would be intresting

Interesting indeed!

I dunno, sounds like a very creative tool to help parents and their children, but I whole-heartedly agree with the people on here posting stressing about better parenting.
 
Hey, if we're going to turn into a police state, we can't leave the parents out of the action. Everybody knows good parenting takes way too much time and effort anyway.
 
Hey, if we're going to turn into a police state, we can't leave the parents out of the action. Everybody knows good parenting takes way too much time and effort anyway.

:rolleyes: yeah because speed signs and stop lights shouldn't be there telling us what to do either. It's ridiculous how we're being controlled on the streets like lemmings. Oh vey we live in a police state already.

But I do agree that parents need to step up at the bat and start teaching their kids responsibility.
 
Lets see how long it takes until someone hacks it...

Not long at all. A customers son figured that to get the Onstar to turn off, just yank the fuse... So it will not surprise me when someone hacks this to.

You'd be surprised at how easy this is to 'bypass' - all I can say is that the effectiveness of the key depends on the parents being smarter than the kid. Implementing the feature sure has been keeping us busy at work though.
 
So they're trying to use technology to solve a behavioral problem? Good luck with that.

The audio limiter won't work very well since the kids blasting their ears out will probably install their own equipment anyway. The speed limiter is of limited use since it wouldn't prevent someone from doing 65 in a school zone.

The top speed limiter might be useful, but why not just install a less powerful engine to begin with? US passenger cars already have overpowered engines and installing a limiter seems counter intuitive.

The system will probably be fairly easy to hack too.
 
"allow parents to limit a vehicle's top speed to 80 mph and/or the stereo's volume up to 44% of its max,"

Reading comprehension for the win - it just keeps the kids from crashing at anything over 80 mph. So the 35mph on the freeway argument is rendered moot.
 
Hmmm. Can't edit my post.. Oh well.

It also includes a "Bitching Betty" audio chime that can be set when preset speeds of 45, 55, and 65 mph are exceded. And can prevent the traction control from being disabled. - Wish I had that on my 05 Mustang GT - when my son get's old enough to drive - he won't drive THAT car for exactly that reason - I burn thru tires fast enough as it is... :D
 
Top speed limit...

Hows it going to know what the speed limit is? It isn't going to stop teens from going 70 in a 25 school zone, or through construction.

Nanny state FAIL!!!
 
Wow, so how many teens are driving brand new cars?
Not just spoiled kids--not everyone can afford to maintain two cars with insurance. Parents can buy a new car and feel safer about letting Billy drive it.

... wouldn't want to limit the car to 35 on the freeway.
Ontario's Graduated License System prohibits G1 permit holders from driving on 400-series highways with a posted limit above 80kph. A low limit would discourage Billy from even trying.

...What if high speed is required? For example, you might be trying to get away from someone, etc....
Serpentine!!!

... and when all else fails, let the kids make decisions on their own. If they feel like speeding maybe they will get a ticket for it.
Too bad that until Billy is of age, Mom and Dad could be on the hook for the damage he causes... especially with a vehicle in their name.
 
:rolleyes: yeah because speed signs and stop lights shouldn't be there telling us what to do either. It's ridiculous how we're being controlled on the streets like lemmings. Oh vey we live in a police state already.

But I do agree that parents need to step up at the bat and start teaching their kids responsibility.

lol talk about taking what I said and twisting and contorting it until it was fully unrecognizable :p

You might also want to learn to recognize "tongue in cheek" a little better ;)
 
This is a great idea. Although it won't fix all problems, it will fix some and alleviate others. Consider it just adding to the tool kit that parents have.

80mph limiter is nice, even though it won't do jack on city streets. It will atleast limit total speed on the highway, and keep the reeeeally dumb kids from trying hill jumping...which usually requires speeds in excess of 80mph on average hills.

The seat belt alert Ford has already implemented to some degree already. I had a 01 Ranger that would beep and flash on the dashboard every 30 seconds until the seatbelt was engaged. My new 08 Focus has the same thing. Let me tell you, you have to have the stereo up fairly loud (+50%) not to hear it. But not allowing the stereo to turn on until the seatbelt is engaged...brilliant. Teens don't need another distraction to atleast keep them from fastening their seatbelts.
 
The speed limit thing would be ok, as long as it doesn't go any lower that 80. Any less would be dangerous.
 
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