Most teen drivers don’t like MyKey initially, according to an online survey by Harris Interactive – a finding that should surprise no one. About 67 percent of those polled said they wouldn’t want any of the features.”
Most teen drivers don’t like MyKey initially, according to an online survey by Harris Interactive – a finding that should surprise no one. About 67 percent of those polled said they wouldn’t want any of the features.”
A cell phone jammer would be nice as well.
I wonder if keeping speed to 80km/h just for the teens is a bit hypocritical. Shouldn’t Ford just make “reasonably” powered cars (both speed and stereo)?
I think it’s 80 miles an hour which is 50 kph faster than 80 kph.
I guess what I should have said is “Why are 30 somethings such jackasses now with their kids when they demanded so much freedom when they were kids in the 90s?”
Shouldn’t the speed just be limited for all?
Ford should make the functionality Nation specific
The Saudi Arabian version would have some kind of ‘No Burka, no drive” feature.
The Hamas version would have limited amount of rockets that could be fired before the vehicle has to move.
The Taliban version could have a limited VBIED capability.
. . . the feature list could be long.
What next,is Ford gonna start chewing their food for them as well.
Last paragraph: “We wondered if we were at risk of alienating a furure generation of buyers” Sarkisian said. “But this is a generation that grew up in the 9/11 era. They ultimately understand security concerns.”
Ford is fighting terrorism here, you see.
Isn’t that a lunatic mindset?: Learn to love handing Big Brother all your freedom, or the terrorists win!
Not that teens aren’t idiots, but still.
Parents buy the car. If this helps the parents choose Ford it makes sense. The chill scenario is what if OnStar is available to parents with a text alert and real time monitoring Ford looks pretty good then.
Wow… yeah no shit the kids will hate this one.
“But this is a generation that grew up in the 9/11 era. They ultimately understand security concerns.”
No, they don’t. They will only be frustrated by their overbearing, controlling parents and feel the need to evacuate the nest sooner… or it will give them minor, long-term mental issues. How do kids learn to take responsibility for their actions if you give them none to begin with?
Hey Christopher, first thing us parents want to do is “keep the kids alive!”. If we can limit the speed of the our car when they ‘borrow’ it, that’s a GOOD thing. Beginning drivers may have all the right reflexes to control a fast car, but they don’t have the experience needed to know when to back off. And figuring out you are going too fast around a corner when you are halfway through the corner is not conducive to a long life…
I got out of the trucking industry because of these stupid people making all the stupid rules.
The mandatory governor made it dangerous to drive.Texas has much higher speed limits, I have been literally run off the road and fined because I couldn’t keep up with the traffic.Many of the American states are now raising the truck highway speed limit from 55 miles per hour to 65. Funny why would they do that, if the lower speeds are better.
“… first thing us parents want to do is …”
Who’s “us”? Your home owner’s association? You already have control over whether or not your kids are driving with experience enough to “back off”. Teach them yourself, or just don’t give them the keys if that’s easier for you.
The largest amount of cunned funt stuckery I see on the roads (400 series) has emblems like BMW, Audi, Benz, Vette and the souped up rice burners.
Everything else is pretty “reasonable”. It’s not just kids. That’s more “nanny-ninnyness” been heaped on them to “control”.
Ooooooooooobeyyyyyyyyyy.
“We wondered if we were at risk of alienating a future generation of buyers,” Sarkisian said. “But this is a generation that grew up in the 9/11 era. They ultimately understand security concerns.”
OMFG!
Does Ford want to be known as the next Buick? ie. an old person’s car?
I can’t stand the Nanny mentality. Not from governments, corporations, or commentators like Brute.
Maybe we could just teach them how to drive better. Some better driver training with actual driver control and skid schools. AND TEACH PEOPLE HOW TO MERGE!!!!!
Maybe we could just teach them how to drive better. Some better driver training with actual driver control and skid schools. AND TEACH PEOPLE HOW TO MERGE!!!!!
Opps double post FTL
“Shouldn’t the speed just be limited for all?”
~Jon
Sure, cops included.
Oh, and any system like Ford’s “MyKey” will morph into the government’s “BigBrotherKey” and they’ll be able to cut your engine with the click of a button in the future if they can’t with the “MyKey” version already.
But that’s probably crazy talk on my part.
You can and should trust the government and it’s agents because they’re so transparent and accountable.
Really.
I always thought the keys to driving safely were alertness and good reflexes. Why not push these things instead of a remote control?
Not many things that make me happy to be 56 years old. This nanny state crap makes me happy I grew up in the old America.When I was 10 my mom was 32 and I had 2 brothers and a sister. Nowadays a 10 year old boy has a 46 year old mother(that chases him around with hand sanitizer) and no dad or brothers or sisters.No unsupervised time, no cousins, no big dogs, no go carts. No wonder they grow up to be democrats.
Ford has always been a good choice for parents to lend to their kids. I don’t think my ’03 Taurus will hit 80 mph, downhill. If it does, you feel like you’re hitting 120 mph. My kids loved it, in fact, I haven’t seen it in awhile. I hope it served its purpose.
CK
That is preferable to them swarming senior citizens for drug money……except like you said about the democrat part.
Excuse me, but WTF are you doing buying your kid a new car (!!!) if you can’t trust him to drive it properly?
Who buys their kid a car anyway? Make the kid buy his own damn car, AND fix it himself, then maybe the kid will have some respect for the machinery.
My experience, when you need your car for work tomorrow you don’t do burnouts at 7/11 tonight. Tires are expensive.
Besides, its hard to do a burnout in a 10-12 year old Neon, which is what kids are driving these days. Have to wait ’till it rains to get tire spin out of a Neon.
If a kid wants a car, let him work to earn the dough to buy one, insure it, register it, pay for its maintenance (which will be costly, since the only thing he’ll be able to buy will be an old beater) and the gas. That’ll teach him responsibility and a whole lot more.
well billie and betty, you dont like it, get your own vehicle.
p.s. remember in Canuckistan if you want to murder someone just run them over in your car and get a slap on the wrist.
better if you’re drunk too, then you can use the tried and true ‘didd’nknowwhutwashappens’ excuse.
Yeesh. When I was 16 I would have been happy with a Yugo with no sound system. Pretty sure a Yugo could only hit 90 kph going downhill with a good tailwind.
Must admit, when I was young and would borrow my Dad’s car I was a bit of a lunatic. My friends were the same. Somehow we survived.
So I’m torn on this one.
I like your idea, Fred.
What if the kid makes a mistake and needs to speed up past 80 to get out of harms way? The most dangerous airplanes are Airbuses – they operate on the same principles as these proposed cars.
I am all for safety precautions for the “I’m invicible mind” of the young person, but I am not sure that is what you would necessarily end up with in this instance. I think an alcohol detector and auto no start for decting alcohol would be better mandatory feature on all cars – I would 100% support that kind of feature.
Be grateful that this sort of thing is not required by law … not yet.
I think this is a great idea from Ford. I would like to see low cost, dependable, high tech breathilyzers in all cars that could be programmed. That way you could set something up so that you’re kids can’t start the car if they blow over (you could also program if for anyone who is a danger of drinking and driving and using your car). Gets rid of all this drunken driving mess with MADD, cops, courts, injuries, death, ruined lives, etc.
cconn and no-one, why on earth would you be in favour of adding a thousand dollar piece of equipment to a car that needs to be calibrated every six months or so?
Aren’t cars and their way too expensive gizmos enough already without adding another integral piece of equipment?
Little by little our personal freedoms and choice are being taken away by the do-gooders and technology. Eventually we will all probably just get a chip in our heads that prevents bad thoughts and actions. Then maybe we will all finally be safe.
How do people develop a sense of personal responsibility when all the choice are taken away from them?
The automobile used to be advertised as the ultimate in personal freedom; now it is just another part of the tyranny.
Rebarbarian, that right there is an excellent observation.
“Excuse me, but WTF are you doing buying your kid a new car (!!!) if you can’t trust him to drive it properly?
Who buys their kid a car anyway? Make the kid buy his own damn car, AND fix it himself, then maybe the kid will have some respect for the machinery.
My experience, when you need your car for work tomorrow you don’t do burnouts at 7/11 tonight. Tires are expensive.
Besides, its hard to do a burnout in a 10-12 year old Neon, which is what kids are driving these days. Have to wait ’till it rains to get tire spin out of a Neon.
Posted by: The Phantom at June 5, 2010 11:03 PM ”
Wonder how it took so long for anybody to post this in the thread…….
When I got my license, my parents had a 70 fairlane with a 302, uninsured, which I wanted to drive. ” It needs brakes and it’s too big for you, it’s a piece of shite!” the old man said…..to which he sold it off for next to nothing. Instead, I got the keys to the 77 maverick (this was 1979)……and I beat the living snot out of that maverick, 4x4ing with it, rat-racing, etc, JUST LIKE A TYPICAL TEENAGER…..
These new-fangled, expensive, nanny-state inventions are next to useless. Buy your kid a POS, that at least has good brakes, and is functional. If they wreck it (a fair chance of that) not much ventured, not much lost…if they complain that it’s not a Bimmer or whatever trendy vehicle, let them know that:
#1, cars are common, and all are subject to complete loss of value, no matter how expensive they are.
#2, trendiness is expensive, and the trend will pass quickly, rendering that ‘must have’ to yesterday’s news. We see that in cellphones today.
#3 show them how much per month that car is going to cost THEM (not you), to maintain ‘coolness’…..they will appreciate that Neon…..it’s still better than the loser cruiser (public transit)
DanBC, I learned on Mum’s 1972 Pinto. Still managed to get traffic tickets. It was hard, but I found a way.
Let’s not get paranoid on this nanny thing. Nobody is saying you HAVE to program the keys. Some parents will some parents won’t. Some might think it’s silly, others might think it’s great. If nobody wants it, Ford will drop the idea next year. That’s called freedom of choice and it drives the free market.
If the government starts getting in on the idea then sure, you can fight them on that. But if Ford is finding a way to reduce the dreadful stats on teenagers and car accidents, more power to them.
Can we get a MyKey for the doors to the Mint, just in case the Libranos get elected again?
I intend to give my girls their own Landrover and a set of whitworth wrenches, that should slow them down.
@Colin, I can’t believe anyone still has Whitworth wrenches, I still have some left over from one of my first cars, a Rover 2000 TC. My first car was a 1962 VW Beetle, which was in parts in several boxes. If I could put it together and make it run then it was mine. I agree with the posters who feel that the kids should save up and buy what they can afford, then learn to fix it – if they can’t save up the money to buy the car then they probably won’t be able to afford to run it and insure it.