Do you suspect your teenager is only begging you to buy a 2010 Ford Focus as soon as it hits the dealership so he can turn up the radio and flog it on the highway? Ford thinks so, which is why the automaker introduced MyKey.
A special key made for new drivers, MyKey limits top speeds and radio volume while introducing a host of new warning tones. Drivers who fail to buckle their seat belts or who ignore their fuel gauge are alerted with a series of alarms that escalate from early-warning Louie Anderson to full-on Gilbert Gottfried.
The feature will be available first on the 2010 Focus and will appear on other Ford models in the near future. "MyKey can help promote safer driving, particularly among teens, by encouraging seat belt use, limiting speed and reducing distractions," said Susan Cischke, Ford group vice president of sustainability, environment and safety engineering, in a press release.
This writer encountered a similar, albeit less technologically advanced, system when he was learning to drive in his mother's old Volvo. It was called the "MY car," as in, "This is MY car, and you better slow down and turn off that loud music or I won't let you borrow it this weekend." It was annoying at the time, but in retrospect those safe-driver insurance points and lack of massive head injuries were worth it.
MyKey is no more than a modification of the existing SecuriLock anti-theft system. Through the vehicle message center, parents can program any key's SecuriLock transponder to make it a MyKey.
Once it's been programmed, the MyKey will alert the engine-management software to limit speeds and radio volume. According to Jim Buczkowski, Ford's director of electrical and electronic systems engineering, MyKey is a "simple software upgrade" that's been "developed in such a way to quickly spread it across multiple vehicle lines, giving us the ability to go mass market in the spirit of other Ford innovations such as safety belts, stability control and SYNC." Notice that he didn't mention intermittent windshield wipers.
A Harris survey conducted for Ford indicates that three-quarters of parents say, "Hey MyKey! We like it!" Only a third of teens said they'd object to being given a MyKey if in turn they got to use the car more often.
We're pretty intrigued by MyKey, but we wish it came in other configurations:
- The GrandmaKey. Available only in the Grand Marquis, GrandmaKey uses parking sensors to determine if the car is facing the front window of a drug store. If Grandma hits the gas instead of the brake, the engine is immediately immobilized.
- The WhoopeeKey. When the seat sensors determine that passengers have moved from the front to the back seat, the car automatically dispenses a preferred method of birth control. As a no-cost option, abstinence-only educational materials are also available.
- The LohanKey. If Lindsey Lohan puts the key in the ignition, the SYNC system automatically will call the cops from any Bluetooth-enabled phone.
- __The Stefan ErikssonKey. __Available only on the Enzo, the key renders the car undriveable in the hands of mysterious Germans named Dietrich.
Tell us what key you'd like to see. If it's as easy to program as Buczkowski says, you just might see it on upcoming Fords.
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Photo courtesy Ford*
