Ford to release car with inbuilt ‘teen speed limiter’ (and stereo silencer)

Great news for parents of speeding, txting teens. But it also means the technology could be included on all cars, limiting the speeds of all to, let’s be radical, below posted speed limits. And check out the base of the release, Ford is stressing that slower speeds is a cash plus, something I’ve said I’d like promoted by more car companies and Governments.

Ford Motor Company is introducing an innovative new technology – called MyKey – designed to help parents encourage their teen-agers to drive safer and more fuel efficiently, and increase safety-belt usage.

Ford’s MyKey feature – which debuts next year as standard equipment on the 2010 Focus coupe and will quickly become standard on many other Ford, Lincoln and Mercury models – allows owners to program a key that can limit the vehicle’s top speed and audio volume.

More than half of parents surveyed worry that their teen-age children are driving at unsafe speeds, talking on hand-held cell phones or texting while driving, or otherwise driving distracted.

Jim Buczkowski, director, Electrical and Electronic Systems Engineering, said: “We also developed MyKey’s functions in such a way to quickly spread it across multiple vehicle lines, giving us the ability to go mass market…”

Using MyKey to teach teens to avoid speeding can provide an added benefit – improved fuel economy. Ford research shows that driving 55 mph instead of 65 mph consumes 15 percent less fuel, and mastering other eco-driving habits such as avoiding jackrabbit starts and excessive idling can help improve fuel economy by more than 50 percent.

Such ‘eco-driving habits’ are good for drivers (they save cash) and good for vulnerable road users (we get knocked down at slower speeds and might therefore survive more impacts).