Teen freedom limited on new Ford Focus

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Spectre

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From the Boulder Daily Camera:

Teen freedom limited on new Ford Focus
MyKey technology allows parents to control top speeds, radio volume

By Jabril Faraj, Camera Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 29, 2009

BROOMFIELD, Colo. ? With one turn of a computer chip-enabled key, parents will soon be able to control the top speeds and radio volume on their teen's 2010 Ford Focus.

A new technology, called MyKey, is being marketed to parents as an extra safety measure to protect their children. The Focus -- available this summer -- is on a nationwide promotional tour and made a stop in Broomfield on Wednesday.

The MyKey features -- activated by a key parents can give their teen drivers -- will come standard with the 2010 Ford Focus. The features include the option to set a maximum speed of 80 mph, warning chimes at 45, 55 and 65 mph and a radio that won't sound higher than 44 percent of the total volume. The radio system also stays muted until the driver and front-seat passenger's seatbelts are on.

Beau Smith, general manager of Sill-TerHar Motors in Broomfield, said there's really no downside and, at the same time, amazing advantages to the MyKey features.

"Any time you can add technology to a vehicle -- it doesn't matter what kind of vehicle -- to make it safer, then, I think you're moving in the right direction," he said.

The reaction from parents has been particularly positive. Juli Greeno, who has a 20-year-old daughter and 24-year-old son, said that the new MyKey features would have given her much better peace-of-mind when her children were younger.

"I think it's awesome," she said.

Greeno added that it would have been nice to have those features "when my kids were first driving ... the way kids are (distracted) today with cell phones, iPods and everything else."

Young drivers aren't so excited about potentially losing part of their freedom.

Alexandra Graber, 20, said that she used to drive too fast, listen to the radio loud and not wear her seatbelt. But, though she knows it wasn't safe, she said she would not have been pleased with the MyKey restrictions.

"I think that's maybe a good idea but slightly ridiculous," she said.

But Graber also agreed that, being able to look back, it would have been good for her.

"I think it is a good idea for parents," she said. "I was definitely reckless with the car when I was little."

Paul Witt, who is driving the Focus through Colorado as part of Ford's nationwide promotional tour, said that teens he's talked to are skeptical about the new technology.

Even though these new features can improve road safety, he said, MyKey is not the ultimate solution."Bottom line is it's still up to the driver to make that safe decision," Witt said. "You can put anything you want on the car but it's the person behind the wheel who's got to make it safer and if we can just help increase that experience and increase awareness that's what we're trying to do."
 
Ugh. I hate that crap. Mostly because I'm a teen, partly because I know that if a kid never has the chance to make a mistake, they'll never learn from them. Hell, when I was little growing up, my parents didn't really do crap about stuff I did, and if I made a mistake, it bore real consequences, not "go to your room for 1 hour".

Friggin' helicopter parenting, man. I've noticed my parents trying some of that shit lately, even though they used to do the opposite. Good thing I'm old enough now it won't affect me much, if at all. It's infesting our society and it's going to make for an entitled and bitchy generation Z. The next few generations are going to be god damn complacent.
 
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I'm in favor of this top speed limit, frankly. I can think of no circumstances where a teenager under my care and without my supervision would need to go faster than 75mph, and that is one mistake that I'd rather they not make on their own. There's "letting your kids make mistakes so they can learn", and there's "letting them endanger themselves and put other people at risk".

The rest is garbage, and MadCat360 has it; Gen Z is fucking ruined from helicopter parenting.
 
I'm in favor of this top speed limit, frankly. I can think of no circumstances where a teenager under my care and without my supervision would need to go faster than 75mph, and that is one mistake that I'd rather they not make on their own. There's "letting your kids make mistakes so they can learn", and there's "letting them endanger themselves and put other people at risk".

If they learned properly from their mistakes in childhood they wouldn't be making the excessive speed mistake on the road. The lack of awareness or caution stems from a lack of base understanding as a child. I sped on my bike when I was a kid. I fell off that thing more times than i can count because of doing stupid stuff way too fast. I don't speed in real life now.

I don't want anyone hurt any more than you do, but a little more liberty granted to children would forge them into more responsible teens and adults.

I didn't grow up without flaws either, but through other experiences I'm more aware of my flaws and have corrected a lot of them. If someone grows up just flawed across the board, and has very little childhood experience to draw upon, it's going to be a lot harder for them to become a well-rounded adult.
 
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If they learned properly from their mistakes in childhood they wouldn't be making the excessive speed mistake on the road. The lack of awareness or caution stems from a lack of base understanding as a child. I sped on my bike when I was a kid. I fell off that thing more times than i can count because of doing stupid stuff way too fast. I don't speed in real life now.
But that implies that mistakes made earlier in childhood means they won't be recklessly speeding down the highway, not the act itself. On the highway doing 90mph is not when I would want my 16 year old child to learn "shit, I better slow down". (I would take them to the track for that, but I'm probably a bit unorthodox. :D)

Falling off your bike because you were going too fast just means you just got bloodied up a little bit and dented your neighbor's garage (or maybe that was just me). Ditching the car because you were going too fast on a back county road just means you probably forgot some stuff you learned in elementary school and maybe broke a bone or two. Plowing into someone or something on the highway because you were going too fast means a lot worse.

I don't want anyone hurt any more than you do, but a little more liberty granted to children would forge them into more responsible teens and adults.
I totally agree, but I just think there are some lessons that you don't just learn "the hard way". High-speed vehicle safety and gun safety, in particular, are two things that I think fall into that.
 
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I would never lend my kid a new car, myKey feature or not. I'd give my kid an old banger and a toolbox for his 18th birthday.
"Son/Daughter, here's your car. It might not run, but here's a manual and here are some tools. Have fun, if you need help, i'm here."
 
That's a stupid idea. What the hell is the matter with society these days; every single thing is being forced upon people, insted of looking at other options. This is just one of many things.

Driver education !! Say it with me; driver education is the key to safer roads. The people who teach young kids to drive are the single biggest influence, together with parents, when it comes to driving behaviour. For example here nowadays the driving schools concentrate very much on teaching economical driving and how to save fuel, basically giving a rats ass about safe and pre-emptive driving, road manners, traffic and the general unwritten rules of driving etc.

What the hell is it with decision makers all around the world trying to force instead of encourageing citizens into doing something good ? Yes, like very often, also here the basic idea is good....but that's as far as it goes. Nobody has really thought this through. How do you suppose the fresh drivers will feel; a first car is a huge leap into individuality, which they have bever had before. It's responsibility, something of their own. And now it all is taken away. Bullshit, is what this is.

This doesn't even concern me, since my teens are way behind me. Still I think this is a ludicrous idea. What the hell....driving one's own car has been the greatest indication of freedom and individuality for the longest time. And now some dumbass corporate nanny in a flowery hat has decided what the society needs ios even more restrictions.

Fuck me I am getting tired of this shit with regulations and stuff being force fed on people, even if it doesn't affect me directly.
 
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Probably we are facing another storm of useless, senseless, idiotic limitations.

Maybe is my culture, but it's clear, too clear, that these limitations won't work. Would 80 mph not be enough to kill someone (including self) by just driving into something else? Sure, 80 is better than 100, but... I live in a place where 20mph speed limit are usual (and often even correctly set). Drive there at 44 in your brand new "safety enhanced" Focus and you will seriously risk to kill someone or spectacularly crash somewhere. But you still won't get even the first, polite chime of warning... moreover, 80 mph is here the maximum speed limit. Nowhere are you allowed to drive faster. And I don't think USA are any looser with speed limits.

If you WANT to exceed the speed limit, you'll find the way to; if you're willing to respect it, you will, even in a Bugatti Veyron.

I would agree more with a way to reduce the car power than with this way of setting top speed at will. It could be as having two cars without paying for two cars, and little experience goes better with little power than with great. That could be smart.

It is the same for the radio. Your radio won't work until front seat belts are on? Well, just lock the belts in right behind your back, and the radio will turn itself on. It's just the same as before: if you really don't WANT to respect a rule, you'll simply find a way around it. (remember, I'm italian, we're master in this. Somewhere here t-shirts with painted seatbelts on them were sold to fool the police into thinking the driver was wearing them...).

Seriously, you can't have anyone to respect a rule or law, if he/she really doesn't want to, and you can't just force someone to respect the rule. That would eventually deteriorate into some form of fascism.

Not that having some rules is wrong; it is right to set limitations, especially for safety, but you can't just impose them, anymore than you can impose democracy to someone who has never had the first idea of what it is. You have to TEACH WHY something has to be done, WHY it is a good idea.


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(Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both. (B.F.).)
 
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I agree with Brother Michael on the driver education bit. The way I see it you can either put stuff on the cars to appease parents or give kids a driving education that actually makes them better and safer drivers. The course I was required to take was a complete joke and waste of time and money. Spending the majority of in-car time going 3mph while parking between cones does not make anyone any safer. Why not spend that time teaching useful tools like skid recovery or emergency braking. You know, things that might actually save a life or two.
 
So you can't listen to the stereo when not wearing the seatbelt? That completely ruins romantic rear-seat adventures -.-
 
You can always buckle the seat belts without sitting in the seat.
 
You can always buckle the seat belts without sitting in the seat.

It probably uses a weight sensor, and it does say front seats only. So, if you're in the back...

Though I must say I haven't read all the walls of text bashing the car and MyKey, but I think the idea of at least muting the radio until they put their seat belts on is good.

And teenagers don't always learn from their mistakes. To put it simply, kids are idiots.
 
New Ford Focus: Comes with free subscription to the Daily Mail!
 
I would never lend my kid a new car, myKey feature or not. I'd give my kid an old banger and a toolbox for his 18th birthday.
"Son/Daughter, here's your car. It might not run, but here's a manual and here are some tools. Have fun, if you need help, i'm here."

It can also be a case of "if you want to borrow daddy/mommy's car for the prom, you're following the damn rules."

Since when was setting rules for your kids a bad thing? Jesus, people, put down the e-pitchforks.
 
Good idea methinks. Did anyone bitch when it was learned that the Veyron will do top speed only after the key is inserted into the "special" switch? Did anyone go into an uproar when BMW designed the M5 to start up in "reduced" 400hp mode?

No, of course not. Nobody bats an eye when automakers use technology to impose limitations on consumers and their really nice vehicles, but many will freak the Hell out when it's teenagers and economy cars involved.

Looks like kids won't be buying Focuses when they finally move out on their own. :p
 
I agree with Brother Michael on the driver education bit. The way I see it you can either put stuff on the cars to appease parents or give kids a driving education that actually makes them better and safer drivers.

Why can't we have both?

Who honestly thinks a non-intrusive device designed to encourage teens - or, heck, anyone - to wear their seatbelt is a bad idea?

Ditto better driver education. Of course we all want better driver education. Is it going to happen? I don't know. I do know that if we do get better driver ed, it won't apply to people already driving. So give them seatbelt warning devices.

The 80mph maximum thing is an option, and doesn't bother me too much (max limits here are 70). I'm sure the kids would work out how to turn it off.
 
And give a computer nerd 15 minutes and he'll deactivate everything instantly. Just another thing for teenagers to completely ignore. Hell, give them $600 bucks to buy a 1977 Ford LTD and they can have all the same safety features: can't go above 75mph, the radio doesn't work, and useless seatbelts! (And they can have the added bonus of abstinence when they drive something that looks like this.)

Good idea methinks. Did anyone bitch when it was learned that the Veyron will do top speed only after the key is inserted into the "special" switch? Did anyone go into an uproar when BMW designed the M5 to start up in "reduced" 400hp mode?

No, of course not. Nobody bats an eye when automakers use technology to impose limitations on consumers and their really nice vehicles, but many will freak the Hell out when it's teenagers and economy cars involved.

Looks like kids won't be buying Focuses when they finally move out on their own. :p

When you're shooting at the upper end of 400hp and the world's fastest car, it hardly becomes a matter of teenage safety, doesn't it?
 
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