Ford feature will let parents set limits so teens don't drive above certain speed
Published Monday October 6th, 2008
MONTREAL - Parents who worry that their young teenage driver is heavy on the pedal will soon have a way to keep speeds in check.
Ford Motor Co. has announced it will introduce the MyKey feature, which can also make the seatbelt reminder chime almost incessantly and keep the stereo speakers from blasting too loudly.
The first vehicle to have these new innovations will be the 2010 Ford Focus, launching next year, said Ford of Canada spokeswoman Christine Hollander.
"We've been talking to a lot of parents and we are going to be launching the system to help teens drive safer, conserve fuel and also give parents a peace of mind," she said in an interview Monday.
"The system can be programmed to sound chimes at certain speeds to say 'hey, you need to be slowing down."'
MyKey has a computer chip in the key. The user would have a top speed of just under 130 kilometres an hour (80 miles per hour).
In addition, parents could program the vehicle to sound a chime as the car reaches 72 kilometres an hour, 88 kilometres an hour and 106 kilometres, to alert the driver that he or she is going fast.
Another feature of the system is an early low-fuel warning, which would reduce the chances of a young person being stranded at the side of the road with a fuel gauge on empty.
Hollander said Ford vehicles currently warn drivers when their tank is 80 kilometres from being empty.
"MyKey will provide a warning at 120 kilometres to empty, ensuring that people don't wait until the last minute in order to fill up their fuel tank," she said.
"Also by having a chime indicating the speed, Ford research shows that driving 88 kilometres per hour instead of 105 kilometres per hour consumes 15 per cent less fuel."
The motor company also released the findings of a small survey of 347 parents of teenaged children conducted in the United States in early August, and an online survey of 240 teenage drivers in September.
"Parents surveyed worried that their teenage children are driving at unsafe speeds, talking on handheld cellphones as well, and texting while driving, all of which distract them from what they're supposed to be concentrating on, which is the road," said Hollander.
About half of parents who would consider purchasing a car with the technology said they would allow their sons and daughters to use the family car more often if it had MyKey features.
But 67 per cent of teens polled said they wouldn't want such a vehicle in the family.
"So basically the teens were not thrilled by this new technology, but ... if they were to get more driving privileges, only 36 per cent would object to this new technology," said Hollander.
As for the stereo, a MyKey option could be used to limit the audio volume to about 44 per cent of the total volume.
"That way you do not have your teenager cranking up the tunes very loudly in the car and distracting, obviously, their driving capabilities," said Hollander.
And the audio system won't work at all if the seatbelts aren't fastened. In addition, a Beltminder chime would continue at regular intervals until the belts are done up.
The MyKey feature will spread to the entire Ford, Lincoln and Mercury lineup as models are updated, said U.S. spokesman Wes Sherwood.
Ford arrived at the 129 kilometre per hour limit even though highway speed limits are lower in most places because it wanted to leave a margin in case an unusual situation arises, said Jim Buczkowski, Ford's director of electronic and electrical systems engineering.
Danisha Williams, a 16-year-old senior at Southfield-Lathrup High School in suburban Detroit, said she's against the idea.
"I wouldn't want my parents to have that much control over how I'm driving," she said. "If your parents are holding your hand, you're never going to learn."
Brittany Hawthorne, 17, another Southfield-Lathrup senior, said there may be emergency situations where she'd have to drive more than 80 miles an hour, possibly to accelerate to avoid a crash.
A top official from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a research group funded by the auto insurance industry that is pushing to raise the minimum driving age to 17 or 18, found the key intriguing and said she was not aware of any other manufacturer offering such a feature. IIHS says car crashes are the leading cause of death among teenagers.
"Research we've done has shown that speeding is a major factor in teen crashes, especially novice teen drivers," said Anne McCartt, the institute's senior vice-president for research. "So I think a system that tries to correct the speeding behaviour has the potential to improve safety."
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With files from The Associated Press
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