Ford’s MyKey technology and nationwide driver’s education help give parents piece of mind.

As National Teen Driver Safety Week kicks off, Ford is expanding Driving Skills for Life, the award-winning driver’s education program. The program launched in 2003 and to date has trained approximately 332,000 young drivers. Ford also recently introduced MyKey™ technology, which helps parents encourage teens to adopt safer driving behaviors through safety-belt usage, lower audio volumes and a limited top speed. MyKey will become a standard feature across many Ford, Lincoln and Mercury models in early 2009.

A recent Ford-commissioned survey by Harris Interactive Study shows that 57 percent of parents worry about teens driving while on a cell, and 34 percent of survey teens admitted to talking on their phones while driving. Also 44 percent of teens surveyed own up to speeding; 53 percent of parents worry about their teens driving too fast.

Parents like MyKey technology, as it can limit a vehicle’s top speed to 80 mph and be programmed to sound special chimes at 45, 55 or 65 miles per hour. But not surprisingly, initially 67 percent of teens polled said they didn’t like it. However, if using MyKey would lead to greater driving privileges, as 50 percent of parents had indicated, that number dropped to only 36 percent.

MyKey features include:

• Persistent Ford Beltminder™ with audio mute. With MyKey, Beltminder automatically mutes the vehicle’s audio system at the first chime until the safety belt is secured. The reminder chimes, which stop after five minutes in the standard system, also continue every minute until the belt is buckled.


• If MyKey is in the ignition, features such as Park Aid and BLISTM (Blind Spot Information System) with Cross Traffic Alert will always be on and cannot be disabled.


• Earlier low-fuel warning. Rather than a warning at 50 miles to empty, MyKey provides a warning at 75 miles to empty.

Results of Harris Interactive Surveys

Parents

• Worry most about teen driving: Talking on cell (57%), Speeding (53), Distracted by others (51), Texting (51)


• Feature favorability (Extremely/Very Important or Important): Limits top speed (76%), Seat belt reminders (72), Limits radio volume (63)


• Consider purchasing such technology (parents of teens who drive primary vehicle): Yes (50%), No (28), Not sure (22)
  – Note, 24% (almost half of those who would consider purchasing) would give their teen(s) more access to the vehicle.

Teens

• Driving behaviors: Speeding (44%), Talking on cell (34), Drowsy driving (22) Distracted by others (17), Texting (15)


• Speed/Volume limit favorability: Unhappy (67%), Neutral (21), Like (3)


• Same with more access to family vehicle: Unhappy (36%), Neutral (39), Like (24)

Quotes

“Ford has a long-standing commitment to safety, as we seek to improve crash protection, crash avoidance and safe driving behavior. When it comes to teens, while others lobby to increase the legal driving age, Ford is using extensive research to develop educational and technological solutions to help reduce the loss of young lives on our roads.”
- Susan Cischke, Ford Group Vice President of Sustainability, Environment and Safety Engineering

“The Driving Skills for Life program is just one example of Ford’s overall commitment to safety. We know it can work. The State of Illinois piloted a teen driving safety program based on DSFL this year and has seen a remarkable reduction in teen auto fatalities by more than 50 percent.”
- Jim Graham, Community Relations Manager of Ford Motor Company Fund

Ford’s new MyKey system allows parents to encourage teen-agers to drive safer and conserve fuel

As part of its ongoing commitment to technology and safety, Ford will launch MyKey – a new technology that allows parents to limit the vehicle's top speed and audio volume – next year as standard equipment on the 2010 Ford Focus and many other Ford, Lincoln and Mercury models.

MyKey, another affordable innovation from the company that introduced SYNC™, also encourages safety-belt usage, provides earlier low-fuel warnings and can be programmed to sound chimes at 45, 55 and 65 miles per hour.

More time behind the wheel gives young drivers invaluable road safety experience. A recent Harris Interactive Survey conducted for Ford shows that many parents would allow teens to drive more often if their vehicle was equipped with MyKey, complementing graduated licensing laws by helping teens build their driving skills in a more controlled setting.

With MyKey, parents also can reinforce fuel-efficient driving. Ford research shows that driving 55 mph instead of 65 mph consumes 15 percent less fuel. As well, if MyKey is in the ignition, features such as Park Aid and BLIS™ (Blind Spot Information System) with Cross Traffic Alert cannot be deactivated.

Quotes

"Ford not only offers industry-leading crash protection and crash avoidance systems, we also are committed to developing new technologies such as MyKey that encourage safer driving behavior. MyKey can help promote safer driving, particularly among teens, by encouraging seat belt use, limiting speed and reducing distractions."
- Susan Cischke, Ford Group Vice President of Sustainability, Environment and Safety Engineering

"We've upgraded an existing, proven technology – the SecuriLock passive anti-theft system – with some simple software upgrades to develop a new unique feature that we believe will resonate with customers. We also developed MyKey's functions in such a way to quickly spread it across multiple vehicle lines, giving us the ability to go mass market in the spirit of other Ford innovations such as safety belts, stability control and SYNC."
- Jim Buczkowski, Ford Electrical and Electronic Systems Engineering Director