United States Car Giant Ford is set to bring its’ new My Key Technology to the UK, much to the relief of many young drivers and their parents alike. The target market is aimed at those who have the tag of boy and girl racers.
My Key is designed to make Ford vehicles safer to drive and aims to help reduce the amount of fatal accidents involving young drivers under 25. The technology is aimed to give parents piece of mind as it allows parents to control the settings in the car via a master key.
So we ask what does this key do, what can I adjust and how will it keep our children safe?
Speed: Excessive speed caused more than 30% of all accidents in male drivers and 21% in female drivers under 25. The My Key system has a feature which allows the top speed of the vehicle to be limited to a set speed, depending on the setting warnings will sound at 70, 90 or 100kph.
Fuel: Parents will also be relieved to know that they will not have to be anxiously expecting a late night call from their stranded teenagers as the feature also provides early low-fuel warnings. Drivers are warned when they have 120km of fuel left in the vehicle.
Music: When teenagers play music they tend to play it quite loudly and this can often distract them from the job they should be concentrating on, driving. Unfortuantely for teenagers the MY Key function has the ability to limit the volume on the audio system, thus removing any unnecessary distractions, ensuring that the driver is being more concentrated on the job at hand.
Seatbelts: My Key also encourages the use of seat belts in vehicles. More often than not drivers will tend not to put their seatbelts on, or slip it over their shoulder, so it appears that they are wearing one to any passers-by. The system uses a reminder chime and mutes the audio system until all front seat passengers comply and stick their seatbelts on.
Personally Indigo believes that this is a very clever idea as in time this could reduce fatalities and bring down the insurance premiums for younger drivers, enabling them to driver safer, and in time they may also be able to go out and hire vehicles and not have to pay a fortune for young driver fees or extortionate insurance premiums.
Ford plans to make the My Key system available to European drivers when it releases the brand new 13 plate ford fiesta and it aims to make the feature as standard on the vehicles. However all is not lost. 53% of parents who were surveyed by Ford said that they would give their teenagers more access to the family vehicle if these settings were applied.
We have no doubt that budding Michael and Michelle Schumacher’s out there will be rushing out to get the new Ford Fiesta!