PG Rated cars from Ford

To help parents curb their pimple-ridden little devils, many manufacturers have introduced parental controls in many of our every day things like televisions, DVD players, computers and even video games. And now, Ford Motor Co. has taken parental controls one step further with their “MyKey” concept, a feature which will be first introduced on the 2010 Ford Focus, and will be standard on a yet unspecified number of cars across their range.

“MyKey” is a system which lets parents limit the top speed of their kids’ cars to about 130 km/h using a computerized chip embedded in personalized keys. Apart from keeping kids from putting their foot down, the system also allows parents to program their kids’ keys to regulate the audio system’s volume, and also emit a 6-second long chime every minute if the driver is not wearing his/her seatbelt. Susan Cischke, Ford group vice president of sustainability, environment and safety engineering, said in a press conference "MyKey can help promote safer driving, particularly among teens, by encouraging seat belt use, limiting speed and reducing distractions".

While most teens are obviously not pleased with these restrictions, Ford’s research has shown that a system like this allows parents to trust their kids more with their cars, which in turn will lead to a higher acceptance amongst them. It is unknown how much reduction this system can actually bring to teen-related road accidents, as in the battle between technology and teenage angst, the latter always seems to emerge a winner. But it should at least allow parents to sleep peacefully at night knowing that their car can nanny over their kids in their absence.