Ford's MyKey System Helps Keep Teen Drivers Safe

Ford Motor Company’s new MyKey System was developed to help put parents at ease when their teenagers are at the wheel. The system also teaches and encourages teen drivers to drive safer and be more fuel efficient.

The new feature will allow owners to program a key, which includes a transponder inside of it, that can limit the vehicle’s audio volume and top speed. The key can also be programmed to sound an alert chime for low fuel levels with 45, 55 and 65 miles to go until empty.

The system allows parents to program any key by using the vehicle message center. It can read the transponder inside the key after the key has been inserted into the ignition. It immediately identifies the MyKey code and reads the default driving modes. It can be programmed to activate the Ford Beltminder system, which chimes an alert for six seconds, every minute for five minutes until the driver is buckled up. It also mutes the radio and shows a message on the instrument panel instructing the driver to Buckle up to unmute radio.”

More features of the Ford MyKey System include:

• A top speed limit of 80 miles per hour
• Audio volume limits to 44 percent of the total volume
• Speed chime alerts at 45, 55 or 65 miles per hour

Features like Park Aid, Traction Control and BLIS (Blind Spot Information System) with Cross Traffic Alert cannot be deactivated if MyKey is in the ignition.

Jim Buczkowski, director of Electrical and Electronic Systems Engineering – the same team that developed SYNC in partnership with Microsoft, said of MyKey, “We’ve upgraded an existing, proven technology – the SecuriLock passive anti-theft system – with some simple software upgrades to develop a new unique feature that we believe will resonate with customers. 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 in the spirit of other Ford innovations such as safety belts, stability control and SYNC.”

A Harris Interactive Survey conducted for the Ford Motor Company shows that many more parents would allow their teenagers to drive regularly if their vehicles were equipped with MyKey. The survey showed that 75 percent of parents like the speed-limiting feature, 72 percent like the safety-belt reminder and 63 percent like the audio limit feature of the system. About 50 percent of the parents surveyed who would consider a MyKey equipped vehicle said they would allow their teenager to use the car more often.

Of teens surveyed by Harris, 67 percent said they wouldn’t want MyKey, but only 36 percent would object if having the feature meant they could drive more often.

MyKey will become a standard feature on the 2010 Ford Focus, but will then quickly be made available on many other Ford, Lincoln and Mercury model vehicles.