Gadget allows parents more control

The Ford Motor Co. calls its new safety technology for teenage drivers "MyKey."

Truth be told, it probably should be called "MyParentsKey," since the feature that Ford announced recently will let parents slow down their children in the family car.

Like V-chips that restrict what children can view on television, MyKey allows parents to limit teenage drivers to a top speed of 80 miles per hour, cap the volume on the car stereo, demand seat belt use and encourage other safe-driving habits.

The MyKey feature will be standard equipment on the 2010 Ford Focus and eventually on all Ford, Lincoln and Mercury models. Ford executives and industry experts say it is the first attempt by an automaker to provide parental control on young people behind the wheel, where their inexperience and tendency to take risks can be deadly.

With 35,000 American teenagers killed in auto accidents in the last five years, the feature was welcomed.

MyKey can sound a chime whenever the vehicle travels about 45, 55, or 65 miles per hour, and prevent the driver from turning off safety features like traction control, which inhibits spinning tires. It can also be set to mute the radio and chime repeatedly until the driver is buckled up.

Parents choose which of the restrictions to activate, and they take effect whenever a specific key is used in the ignition. There are no limitations when the master key is used.

A number of companies already sell aftermarket devices to track teenage drivers' behavior and location but most are intended to give feedback to the parent, rather than immediately to the driver. Some require monthly fees and many can be outsmarted or removed by a knowledgeable teenager.

Because MyKey is free and might be viewed as less "Big Brother" than global-positioning devices that track a car's every movement, safety advocates say it has broad potential to keep teenagers safer as they hone their driving skills.

Ford plans to collect data on the effectiveness of MyKey and hopes to persuade insurance providers to give discounts to families who use the system.

In a survey by Harris Interactive for Ford, 67 percent of teenagers opposed MyKey. But their opposition fell to 36 percent if MyKey led parents to expand their driving privileges.

Though MyKey imposes limitation on audio volume, Ford chose not to restrict other possible distractions in the vehicle, such as its Sync digital entertainment system, which links a cell phone or portable music player to a stereo and allows hands-free use with voice commands.

Because technology aimed at teenage driving safety is fairly new and has not been widely used, safety advocates are not sure of its effectiveness in preventing crashes and making young drivers more responsible. But they say it could give parents more peace of mind and discourage some obviously dangerous behavior.

Ford officials also noted that MyKey has some benefits unrelated to safety, like saving gas by making drivers slow down and keeping teenagers from using cruising through neighborhoods with the stereo blasting.