Ford MyKey lets parents control their kids' driving habits
By Donald Melanson 
posted October 6th 2008 2:47PM
posted October 6th 2008 2:47PM
There's not exactly a shortage of options out there for parents that want to keep watch on their kids' driving, but Ford looks to be taking things a bit further than most with its new MyKey system, and it's making it standard issue, no less. Set to debut in the 2010 Focus Coupe and plenty of other Ford vehicles shortly thereafter, the key-based system will let parents limit their car's top driving speed to 80 miles per hour, cut off the stereo's volume at just 44% of its max output, and set a persistent chime to go off if the seatbelts aren't being used (the stereo also gets muted until everyone buckles up). As if that wasn't enough, it'll also provide a low-fuel warning at 75 miles to empty, start issuing a surely annoying reminder as the driver inches up past the 45 mph mark, and make it impossible to disable some of the Focus' usual safety measures like Park Aid and Cross Traffic Alert. Also not able to be disabled: your kid's resentment.
I disagree. And I am sure some parents would as well.
Reminds me of the good old days when my mom did all that nagging when i was learning to drive.....
Your mom nagged?
My mom silently grabbed the Oh-Shit Handle™ in front of her, near the dash board, or at the side of her on the door:
EVERY SINGLE TIME I TURNED THE CORNER. Seriously, I could've been driving three miles per hour (I even tested this, taking a turn as slowly as I possibly could), and she'd have white-knuckle-grabbed that handle.
What about that imaginary brake on the passenger side? Funny how it never works. ;)
mine always put her leg up on the glove compartment when i touched the brakes...
I wonder how many parents are going to be killed over this.
Would'a saved me some real money in speeding ticket fines and raised insurance.
No, that'l be the shame of having to drive the a very dull Ford model which will feature this standard.
It seems like a good idea to me, IF you could set which of those features it enforces.
I'm sorry but are American teenagers really that stupid that they are not wearing their seatbelts, driving too fast and running out of gas all the time? Wouldn't it just be easier to have an IQ test along with their road test and if they are stupid you don't give them a drivers L.?
Or better yet, Ford should release a product called: "how to be a better parent - teach your kids to be more responsible".
Well if anything, it would encourage your kids to go out and buy their own non-annoying car with the embarassment that would be brought driving that one.
And teach them not to buy an American-made car at that!
As with any good emerging new technology, the kids will master it before the parents can get an understanding of it and it will be the kids being asked by the parents how to work it and disable it, defeating the whole purpose of it.
hence they are making it standard. Just insert the 'kiddie key' and the settings are automatically engaged.
I would just make a copy of their key, and never use the kiddie key.
so true
This is could be very fun for other drivers.....LETS RACE heehee. They should have it keep a log of you driving and braking also.
I think just keeping a log that parents could access would be sufficient. If you know they are going somewhere local, and the car sees 80mph, something's up.
Falcom, where the hell do you live? How close/far is local to you? Right now from me there are 3 freeways that converge 1 block away and all of them I use to travel 'locally' 5-10 minutes up a few exits, which requires me to do the 75-80 MPH it takes to successfully merge onto them.
Where's the built in breathalyzer?
But my kid doesn't drink! I know all of their friends do, but my perfect little child would never even consider drinking until they turn 21...
There are whole bunch out there...
http://www.engadget.com/tag/breathalyzer/
Win!
It starts with parental monitoring, next everyone is having this installed in their cars.
Slippery slope, better to not head down it in the first place.
There are already a selection of devices out on the market that keep track of the accelleration, speed, braking and route travelled. Hardly a slippery slope.
It isn't like parents are implanting GPS tracking tags into their kids.
Now that is what we did, some GPS implants for the kids. I know how bad I was when I was a teenager. No way I'm going to let my kid get away with that kind of crap.
*that is what we need* rather than *that is what we did*
Shane! come back Shane!
sorry, I had to.
You must not have kids.
I'm not even sure how you *can* disagree with this. Hell, I'd like to see it be more restrictive via a web interface, allowing granular control like disabling the key entirely, sealing off of the back seat on date night and massive electric shock if nudity is detected.
In all seriousness, this is a grand idea.
It is called a valet key...Had them for years...Especially on expensive cars...
If I didn't want my kid looking in the trunk or glove box, or filling up the talk, I would give them a valet key.
Valet keys do things like not unlocking glove compartment, trunk etc ... so ... what does that have to do with this article that you would bring that up?
It'll be interesting to see how many accidents this ends up causing versus the number of accidents it prevents. Something tells me the numbers would be close enough to render this technology irrelevant.
So, limiting their speed, keeping the volume on the stereo locked at a reasonable level and forcing them to wear seat belts is going to cause accidents? Wow. you're a genius!!
Yes - and distracting a driver with alarms isn't going to cause problems at all. And limiting someone's speed when there's an accident and they need to get out of the way is super lovely. Nothing like electronics to take away your role as a responsible parent.
Interestingly, Japan and some other countries have speed alarms when a car goes over 120km/h and that doesn't seem to have caused too many problems for them. If a beep every few seconds is enough to distract you from the task of driving, you probably shouldn't have a license and should stick to playing with your shiny ball of aluminum foil.
'Limiting their speed getting out of the way of an accident"
Good god you are right! We all need to be protected from accidents by being able to drive over 80mph! It should be illegal to even manufacture a car that can't go faster than that. Why damnit that pesky 155mph limit on German cars better go as well. If car can't hit 200 it is just an accident waiting to happen!
but but i was told i could listen to the radio at a reasonable volume from 9 to 11
I actually agree with Rock, mainly because kids are always way ahead of their parents when it comes to technology. And it'd be a matter of seconds before someone starts selling the workarounds on the intarwebbs.
Just like with any feature, there will be a way around it (bypass it, disable it, etc) even if it is an aftermarket solution. Look at the vettes with the aftermarket shifter that lets you bypass the CAGS (Computer Aided Gear Shift) so you can shift like a normal human being.
I love it, just add in GPS Tracking & Web Logging
The responses here must reflect the ages of the commenter. ;)
I'm 26 years old, have no kids.. and I think this is a fantastic idea.
I'm in a similar boat. I'm 35 without kids and also think this is a very nice idea. It's funny how you become more responsible over time. I guess it's called growing up. If my kids didn't want this then they could go buy their own car and pay their own insurance. Actually, they just might have to do that anyways. :)
Considering the mischief that I got into with my parents vehicles (including a car accident) I wouldn't blame parents at all for using this.
If you handed the keys to your $20K car to someone you think is irresponsible, wouldn't you like to know that there was a few systems in place to limit the amount of trouble they could get into? Especially so when you are going to have to deal with 100% of the results.
Can I get a testosterone detection unit hooked up to an ejection device for my teenage daughter's car? You got time to work on this one as my daughter is not a teenager yet. Also would be nice to have remote control over the vehicle as well. I could make sure her a$$ gets home by curfew...
i'll just have your daughter get in MY car, since it doesnt' have any of those annoying features.
Ford can put all their effort into create a fuel-friend and economic car, or can dilute their effort into adding new gadget to their car.
Even though my parents could still do this to me (hopefully they wont), I think this is a brilliant idea!
Consdering "kids" are new drivers and most parents don't have epic bank accounts to buy there "kids" new cars with this tech, i think this a fail of epicness (for at least 5 years anyway).