There comes a time when every parent must let go of their youngling and release them onto the nation’s roads with their very first car. That’s terrifying for the rest of us, but Ford has invented a smart car key to annoy young drivers into being safe, and it’s finally coming to Australia.
The Ford MyKey (not to be confused with Melbourne’s Myki contactless ticketing system on Public Transport) works in tandem with the Ford Sync system to make sure that the will nag drivers into staying safe.
The MyKey allows car owners to customise different keys to configure different settings on the car as it’s turned on. That means you can program a key to give to your kids.
The MyKey can be programmed to initiate features like completely disabling the audio system if seatbelts aren’t used, sound alarms at 70km/h and 140km/h to highlight if the vehicle is going too fast, keeping the seatbelt reminders on always, sounding an early fuel-low warning to save running out on fuel and restricting safety technologies like stability programs from ever being turned off.
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The MyKey system will debut on the awesome-looking Fiesta ST model in September and will be deployed in new Ford models from 2014.