Ford tool to improve teen safety: MyKey

This week marks the second annual National Teen Driver Safety Week, created to raise awareness about teen driver issues: car crashes are the leading cause of death among young people and teen drivers are at higher risk of crashing than any other age group. Aimed at improving safety for teenage drivers, Ford recently introduced a clever safety system called “MyKey.” MyKey allows a car’s owner to program, among other things, how fast the car can go, how loud the radio can play, and ensure a chime will keep dinging if the seatbelt isn’t clicked into place.

While technically impressive, I can’t help but think that if a teenager isn’t mature enough to do all of these things without having a magic key, then perhaps they shouldn’t be entrusted with something as dangerous as a car.

MyKey features

Ford’s MyKey is an intriguing technical advancement. It smartly integrates a variety of features, enabling the consumer to control them for the first time. MyKey will be standard on the 2010 Ford Focus followed by other Ford, Lincoln and Mercury models. With MyKey, the owner can set up tighter restrictions on various safety elements, such as a chime that sounds and the audio system to mute until the safety belt is buckled; low-fuel warning at 75 miles to empty (rather than 50); and a limit of top speed to 80 mph (you can easily be killed in a single-car accident at under 80 mph); and audio volume that will go no higher than 44 percent of total volume.

MyKey will enable parents to operate their own home-grown graduated licensing, releasing electronic freedoms over time. Ford claims that if parents can control the car’s speed, they’ll be likely to let their teen have the keys more often, which in turn will make that teen more happy. Ultimately we hope teens are taught good driving habits, but this tool could help shape behavior, especially for younger (16-17 year old) drivers known to be at higher risk.

License to drive?

My parents instilled a mortal fear when I got my license. After I passed my road test at 16, I was ready to roll. But my mother quickly put the kibosh on my dreams of a freewheeling ride: “Just because you have your license, doesn’t mean you can drive.” The benefit of hindsight and years of driving experience have made me realize that truer words were never spoken.

Granted, my Mercury Zephyr station wagon (gold with wood panels) wasn’t going to trophy in any drag races, but I knew better than to drive over the speed limit. Why? Because my parents told me not to, and if I wanted to continue driving the family hauler, I knew I’d better listen.

Driver’s Ed taught us that the seatbelt went on before the ignition got turned, and so wearing my seatbelt was just automatic. My parents were rather impressed and mildly amused by my non-negotiable seatbelt-wearing habit; their generation came of age in cars that didn’t even have them. Blasting the radio? My father told me not to even play it while driving: too distracting. He also told me not to hang any fuzzy dice from my rear view mirror for the same reason. Fuel economy? I had to pay for any gas I used, so I only drove as far as my minimum-wage job could afford. And I wouldn’t dream of leaving the car with an empty tank for fear I’d never get to drive it again.

Maybe I was just a goody-goody girl, you say. Well, maybe. But I can’t help thinking that big brother technologies have the capacity to give parents and teens a false sense of security. We’ve blogged about unsafe teen practices such as texting while driving, for example. Do we really need to program a car to make sure a teen driver does what he’s supposed to? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

—Desiree Calamari

Some additional advice for creating better drivers:
•    Parents should judge their own children’s driving skills themselves by spending enough time teaching them and observing good practices behind the wheel.
•    Teach by example BEFORE your kids are old enough to drive: if you constantly speed, tailgate, don’t wear your seatbelt, talk on the cell phone or blare the radio yourself, chances are that they may follow suit/believe that it’s OK.
•    Adhere to your own state’s – and possibly your own household’s – graduated licensing program, particularly as they relate to additional passengers.

Check out our kids and car safety guide. And another way to learn more about safe driving is from Ford's Web site: www.drivingskillsforlife.com.

Edited 10/22/08

Comments

[busby seo test]

this blog is very interesting and educational and at the same time very entertaining!
busby seo test

[david]

I would have added a curfew feature on MyKey. Be home by 10pm or you'll be walking home. LOL.

[Michael]

I agree that if a "smart key" is deemed necessary to ensure good driving, then the teen may not be mature enough to drive in the first place. However, at the same time, some of the mistakes performed by teen drivers may be more due to lack of experience than recklessness, in which case the key would make more sense.

Ford arrived at a top speed of 80 mph because there may be some cases of emergency where brief accelerations to that speed are necessary. I have encountered such situations, even though I rarely exceed 65 mph.

I would also like to point out that two cars colliding head-on at 40 mph would not create an unsurvivable collision. The IIHS frontal offset crash test is equivalent to two cars moving at 40 mph hitting each other, or a car hitting a parked car at 80 mph. Most of today's cars would allow the driver to walk away from such a crash.

[Jeff Bartlett - Consumer Reports]

Thanks Michael. We edited the reference to the collision. Two cars striking at 40 mph, particularly smaller, older models that many teens favor, could risk injury or serious injury.