Okay, quite frankly I think this is really cool technology - but I also think it's totally ridiculous to stalk/control your kids this way. I remember the first time I drove, and more recently, when my mother not-so-calmly asked me to either:
a) turn down the stereo
b) slow down
c) clean the car or
d) all of the above
While the new MyKey doesn't do much for option C, starting in 2010, it can control all the rest. With this new technology, Ford allows parents to set the maximum volume to 44% (approximately '10' on most Ford models), set an unrelenting chime if seatbelts are not being used and set the maximum speed of the car to 80mph (why 80mph when the speed limit on most highways tops out at 70mph? Well fortunately someone had their thinking cap on and allowed for "extenuating circumstances" aka playing chicken with your friend, I mean, outrunning a tornado... or something...anyway)
While I know that statistics show that these are some of the major contributing factors in teen car accidents and accident related injury/death, I have to say that I feel like my freedom is being impinged upon. Honestly, my parents never had restrictions like those - and I was forever grateful - and I think, perhaps, BECAUSE they didn't have these restrictions, I had to learn to set them for myself and became a much more responsible driver. In any case, I digress. Good job, Ford, you've just given overly- neurotic parents an even better way to control their teenagers driving habits.
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