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Ford To Introduce Restrictive Car Keys For Parents

Posted by kdawson on from the no-you-cannot-borrow-my-keys dept.

thesandbender writes "Ford is set to release a management system that will restrict certain aspects of a car's performance based on which key is in the ignition. The speed is limited to 80, you can't turn off traction control, and you can't turn the stereo up to eleven. It's targeted at parents of teenagers and seems like a generally good idea, especially if you get a break on your insurance." The keys will be introduced with the 2010 Focus coupe and will quickly spread to Ford's entire lineup.

3 of 1,224 comments (clear)

  1. Is 80 even legal? by pembo13 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Is 80 MPH legal anywhere in the USA?

    --
    "Thanks for all the money you paid to us. We've used it to buy off ISO among other things" -Microsoft
  2. We need a cars category in slashdot by SL+Baur · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Feel free to mod me down, but the issue needs to be raised.

    We need a cars category. Many of us like to talk about this kind of stuff. ca.driving was one of the most popular newsgroups on ancient Usenet (and had a wonderful signal to noise ratio to boot).

    We do not need the invisible article title text featured by the beta index and the firehose.

    Back on topic:
    I learned to drive in a large vehicle too - my parents' Plymouth Satellite. My mother screamed when I (slightly) misjudged the clearance on the right the first time I used my learner's permit (no harm, no foul, no accident, no ticket).

    I suspect I'll do something similar when my wife gets her US license.

  3. Re:All this sounds nice, but there's another side. by mdarksbane · · Score: 4, Interesting

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3ygYUYia9I

    Very interesting video from Fifth gear about just how much safer newer cars are.

    My wife's family swears by their old volvo station wagon, and having been in a similar accident to what you describe in it, is built like a tank in terms of how much structural damage it takes in a minor impact (ie, how expensive the repairs will be).

    But as you can see in this video, it's more an illusion of safety than a reality.

    New cars crumple and destroy themselves so that *they* absorb the force instead of *you* absorbing it. It's not just a way to make things cheaper and force insurance companies to buy new cars more often.