MyKey lets parents drive while sitting at home

[Bumper]

Tuesday, December 9, 2008
By Berit Mason
WOAI - San Antonio

It’s called MyKey and it allows parents to control how their car is driven, even while they’re not in it.

Fear giving your kids the car keys? Ford Motor Company has the answer to that.

It’s called MyKey and it allows parents to control how their car is driven, even while they’re not in it.

Ford spokesperson Liz Bradford: “With a second key, parents can program that key to control the speed of the car, ensuring it doesn’t go above 80mph. They can also control how loud the radio plays.”

Bradford says loud radios are a distraction that leads to car accidents.

Highway studies have shown that speed plays a role in 30% of all fatal accidents where teens were behind the wheel.

Ford is also introducing Sync which allows for hands-free cell phone use and texting; the program actually reads your texts to you.

MyKey will be standard on all 2010 Ford Focuses and will be standard on future Fords, Lincolns and Mercurys.

[Nelson Muntz]

“With a second key, parents can program that key to control the speed of the car, ensuring it doesn’t go above 80mph. They can also control how loud the radio plays.”

Ford is also introducing Sync which allows for hands-free cell phone use and texting; the program actually reads your texts to you.


Sweet. Hope the kids don't have to dodge the next twin towers on the way down, or some other 'unforseen happenstance' that could possibly result in a better outcome if there were no arbitrarily selected restrictions. I know I'd feel like cr@p if I restricted the speed on the vehicle my kid is driving and he wasn't able to escape danger because of a limit I punched in.

Oh, and the phone? Turn the damn thing off. Pull over if you need to make a call. Can't tell you how many times I see DC cops driving by on their cell phones, even though it's against the law there. After all, we pay for some very expensive two way radios they are supposed to use during their workday. Surely they aren't calling for back up on a personal cell phone!!

:stupid:

[Bumper]

Sweet. Hope the kids don't have to dodge the next twin towers on the way down, or some other 'unforseen happenstance' that could possibly result in a better outcome if there were no arbitrarily selected restrictions. I know I'd feel like cr@p if I restricted the speed on the vehicle my kid is driving and he wasn't able to escape danger because of a limit I punched in.

That goes two ways, though. What if you were killed while losing control speeding and you are left knowing you could have slowed them down. A much more likely scenario, I'm thinking. The thing wouldn't work for me because my kids have never sat behind the steering wheel of either of our cars. They have their own, which they earned by getting B or better grades. Had they received a ticket, the car would have been taken away and sold. Interestingly enough, two made B or better and have never received a ticket. The other didn't make the grade and thus got no car until he was 18 and could manage it himself....

[Nelson Muntz]

...scenario...

That word is key. Projected events or situations that may happen in advance. You cannot possibly know them all or predict the future, but you can plan for likely events. I have had a few close calls where I needed to put my foot into it in order to escape. I can say now that I'm glad that performance parameters weren't tampered with to allow my escape. But it may be an acceptable option for some folks.

There are other ways to keep tabs on kids driving behavior like in-car cameras, gps, text message or other that alerts the parent of panic stops, speeding up (time and distance) etc. These don't limit performance parameters. They work on the premise that the driver has knowledge that they will be observed should they exceed pre-defined limits, but doesn't take the ultimate control from the driver. Consequences follow the end of the trip, unless there is an appropriate explanation. I feel that is safer.

Every parent has to make their own decisions for their families. YMMV (pun intended). :spank: