Ford 'My Key'

[Slide Panda]

Ford announced that in 2010 it'll be debuting the 'My Key' system on their cars - 1st the focus.  Basically it's a parental governor system that can cap the top speed (to around 80), limit the radio volume, warn you at 75 miles till empty and make various other noises when the car does x y or z.

What happened to kids having a crappy car?  Neither of the 1st tow cars I got to drive could really ever make it to 80.  Didn't have a loud stereo and had a perfectly workable gas guage...

My key on Gizmodo

[the_Journeyman]

It's all personally responsibility.  Parents not taking the responsibility to properly teach & monitor their children & make the consequences of speed, not paying attention perfectly clear be it tickets, loss of driving privileges, or injury/death of them or their passengers.

JM

[wbeck257]

It's all personally responsibility.  Parents not taking the responsibility to properly teach & monitor their children & make the consequences of speed, not paying attention perfectly clear be it tickets, loss of driving privileges, or injury/death of them or their passengers.

Bullshit. The personal responsibilty falls on the kid.
My Dad taught me well on driving. Taught me the consequence of speed. Gave a good example on what good driving is.

What did I do when I turned 16? Pushed that 1987 Camry to its make the beast with two backsing limits.
And when I turned 18 and got my ticket for 87 in a 65 -- he laughed in my face.
And I went to court, and I paid the ticket. Not him.

Kids are going to do what they want.

[herm]

Bullshit. The personal responsibilty falls on the kid.
My Dad taught me well on driving. Taught me the consequence of speed. Gave a good example on what good driving is.

What did I do when I turned 16? Pushed that 1987 Camry to its make the beast with two backsing limits.
And when I turned 18 and got my ticket for 87 in a 65 -- he laughed in my face.
And I went to court, and I paid the ticket. Not him.

Kids are going to do what they want.

+1
a parent can only do so much, and then its up to the kid.
i know that i was pretty selective about using what my dad tried to teach me. doesnt make it his fault that i was a typical moron teenage driver when i first started.

and i taught my younger brother how to drive (when i was 18).........what a fiasco that was

[the_Journeyman]

Teenage drivers will do what they want, this won't change that *too* much.  They can still make poor decisions about what to do while driving.  Just because you can limit the top speed won't help if they're doing 80 around a curve posted 25MPH because it's quite tight.  I just see it as another way to "proxy parent."

JM

[El Matador]

I understand that teenagers are stupid, but this takes things too far.

Whatever happened to kids learn by experience? If the kid is dumb enough to get a ticket, he pays for it by working his ass off to get the money. If the kid crashes the car? he pays for the repair. If he drives drunk? He loses driving privileges until he can buy his own car.

This shit nowadays that parents want to overprotect their kids from everything prevents kids from actually learning anything and being able to do things from themselves later on. 

What if the kid is on the freeway, say doing 70, and a truck starts merging into his lane. He tries to accelerate to get out, but guess what? the cars limiter comes on. Congrats! your stupid ass just killed your son!

[Slide Panda]

I understand that teenagers are stupid, but this takes things too far.

Whatever happened to kids learn by experience? If the kid is dumb enough to get a ticket, he pays for it by working his ass off to get the money. If the kid crashes the car? he pays for the repair. If he drives drunk? He loses driving privileges until he can buy his own car.

This shit nowadays that parents want to overprotect their kids from everything prevents kids from actually learning anything and being able to do things from themselves later on. 

Devils advocate time, for the sake of discussion...

Well it doesn't seem that this system will really be able to limit 'stupid'.  80 is still faster than any speed limit I've ever seen... and as fast as my 1st car could hope to go.  It seems more of a sales feature to me than anything that will really prevent anything from happening.

And by comparison, this is pretty minor comprated to some of the devices (after market) that are already available.  GPS recorders, inward facing cameras that act like a black box (constantly recording, but only preserve the data for a specified time around a specified event like sudden decel) etc.  All that stuff is out there - true it's not coming from the factory until this...

But yeah - how do you teach people?  We keep coming back to the personal responsibility theme as a root undercurrent.  Nanny devices can't teach that and it seems a lot of parents can't either...

Ungh I'm bumming myself out here...

[the_Journeyman]

The best way IMO to teach them to drive starts when they're old enough to process your actions when you're driving them around.  We're talking 2-3 years old.  They will watch and remember a surprising about HOW you drive and HOW you react to other vehicles.  Once they become old enough to be interested in driving, start talking about stuff.  They'll ask questions once they know you're willing to talk about what you're doing.  When another driver does something stupid, requiring you to respond with control inputs, point out what they did & how/why you reacted the way you did.  Once they're a permit driver (with you in the passenger seat) ask them questions about "did you see that car do this, why or why not did you react?"  That's how I learned, and aside from the typical teenager burnouts & desire to go fast (no amount of teaching are going to prevent these things) I did turn out a decent driver that stays calm & collected with driving/riding ~

JM

[El Matador]

The best way IMO to teach them to drive starts when they're old enough to process your actions when you're driving them around.  We're talking 2-3 years old.  They will watch and remember a surprising about HOW you drive and HOW you react to other vehicles.  Once they become old enough to be interested in driving, start talking about stuff.  They'll ask questions once they know you're willing to talk about what you're doing.  When another driver does something stupid, requiring you to respond with control inputs, point out what they did & how/why you reacted the way you did.  Once they're a permit driver (with you in the passenger seat) ask them questions about "did you see that car do this, why or why not did you react?"  That's how I learned, and aside from the typical teenager burnouts & desire to go fast (no amount of teaching are going to prevent these things) I did turn out a decent driver that stays calm & collected with driving/riding ~

JM

+1

[Slide Panda]

The best way IMO to teach them to drive starts when they're old enough to process your actions when you're driving them around.  We're talking 2-3 years old.  They will watch and remember a surprising about HOW you drive and HOW you react to other vehicles.  Once they become old enough to be interested in driving, start talking about stuff.  They'll ask questions once they know you're willing to talk about what you're doing.  When another driver does something stupid, requiring you to respond with control inputs, point out what they did & how/why you reacted the way you did.  Once they're a permit driver (with you in the passenger seat) ask them questions about "did you see that car do this, why or why not did you react?"  That's how I learned, and aside from the typical teenager burnouts & desire to go fast (no amount of teaching are going to prevent these things) I did turn out a decent driver that stays calm & collected with driving/riding ~

JM

I like... yes we forget that a lot of learning occurs early on.  Perceptions are formed well before one gets their license.  If Jr. sees mommy/daddy driving like an ass, talking on the phone/texting, tailgating, cutting people off etc etc - that impression of 'that's how one drives' will last a long time.  Hmmm circling back round to personal responsibility again... a commodity in too short supply in America.

[Grampa]

My Leash

My Thumb

[jdubbs32584]

I like... yes we forget that a lot of learning occurs early on.  Perceptions are formed well before one gets their license.  If Jr. sees mommy/daddy driving like an ass, talking on the phone/texting, tailgating, cutting people off etc etc - that impression of 'that's how one drives' will last a long time.  Hmmm circling back round to personal responsibility again... a commodity in too short supply in America.

IMO, the issue isn't black and white as to who should be personally responsible with kids. The parents have a responsibility to raise them right (which rarely happens nowadays) and then the kids have a responsibility to act right (also rare).

Also, there need to be more consequences. If I caused an wreck or got a ticket, I paid the resulting difference in cost on insurance.

[OwnyTony]

You know what really gets me thinking about comments of bad parenting?  I am a product of my parents parenting, they are the products of their parents and so on. 

Im a relatively young guy (24) and with all the "how old are you" posts on the forum, I realize that a good amount of people are over their 40s 50s.  Are not the "parents" who are my generation, who do such a shitty job parenting a product of their parents?

Dont get me wrong, I dont like shitty parents or parenting but it does not fall solely on one generation.

[the_Journeyman]

IMO, the issue isn't black and white as to who should be personally responsible with kids. The parents have a responsibility to raise them right (which rarely happens nowadays) and then the kids have a responsibility to act right (also rare).

Also, there need to be more consequences. If I caused an wreck or got a ticket, I paid the resulting difference in cost on insurance.

I like the new Allstate commercial that has the courtroom scene where a couple in a car is awarded $100,000 against a teen for vehicular negligence.  Too bad too many teens (older folks too, but to not the same extent) don't realize that simply texting/being on the cell phone can lead to that type of charge/citation & judgement.  Too bad the commercial didn't state what the "negligence" was.

JM

[rgramjet]

When my son gets close to 16 years of age, I will begin my quest.  I will be in search of a duplicate of my first vehicle.....a 1978 Vega Station Wagon, Silver with the brown wood grained wallpaper exterior panels and maroon vinyl interior.  That car couldnt do 80mph going downhill with a tailwind!