Ford introduces parental controls for the 2010 Focus

What a great idea. Now, if a clothing manufacturer could just follow their cue and make pants and/or belts that would automatically pull up and tighten, preventing everyone from having to see 6 inches of underwear…

I don’t think the question of if it’s a good idea is a yes or no one. The idea is somewhat sound but I think we are, yet again, looking for technology to do our jobs as parents. “Prevent your child from speeding rather than teach him/her to drive properly”. Now I certainly agree with using this technology as a temporary control measure to punish regular joes who have been caught doing wreckless things. Something like upon receiving your 3rd speeding ticket within a certain period of time then you surrender your vehicle where the local police place a “V-chip” in it to restrict you from exceeding 65 as part of your probation. But that’s just my opinion.

Dfi is correct that we are looking to technology to do part of our job as parents. However, unless the child is prepared to have a parent with them in the car 100%, so the parent can do their parenting 100% of the time, then this is a bit of a good surrogate. Once the teen is in that car with friends that influence, cajole and exhort the child to use the car other then “just getting from point A to B”, this is just a sound preventative measure like seat belts. Actually, I’m a great believer in the “eye cam” that monitors and video records irregular speeds and driving. Limo companies use them for their ADULT PROFESSIONAL drivers. Why shouldn’t parents use similar measures for easily influenced children.

It’s a great idea! Teaching our children to obey the rules of the road is indeed a parent’s responsibility. But when our children break the rules, appropriate punitive measures can only go so far. We were all teenagers once and we remember what it’s like to finally get behind the wheel. That new, perceived freedom is exhilarating! Teenagers tend to drive too fast and wrecklessly. Auto accidents are the number one cause of death for teenage boys. It’s too late for punishment/restriction after a serious accident. If technology can help to prevent these deaths, even if only a little, it’s a good thing and well worth every penny.

I think it’s a great idea. I question the 80mph “governor” though. I think one should be able to set it at 70mph. Since there are many 70mph roads but only a handful of 75’s I don’t see it as a problem. To use the excuse that it’s needed to accelerate to avoid an accident, which was used by a 16yr old female on my local news, is just hogwash. Nobody has ever had to go 80 to avoid anything unless they were driving carelessly to begin with or on a racetrack. Look at trucking companies. The ones with satellite dishes on them aren’t just for getting directions. They’re for monitoring the safest drivers on the road. If they get them why not children. When kids get into trouble behind the wheel it’s usually not when mom or dad are sitting next to them. Thats when it’s a true accident.

Jeff, I thought about that too. 80 MPH might be necessary if you are trying to pass a truck on a two-lane road. Perhaps a better solution would be a 70 or 75 MPH limit with 80 MPH allowed for up to, say, 30 seconds at a time? I do think that driving too slowly can be just as dangerous as driving too quickly, so 70 MPH on a 75 MPH road could be a problem — imagine the pressure a new driver would feel if he/she is on a 75 MPH road and wants to pull into the passing lane to pass a truck going 65, but can only do 70. — Aaron

I think it should be optional if a parent wants to do it. Although I agree that driving too slow CAN be just as dangerous as driving too fast I don’t buy into it that it IS. Just look at the 55 stay alive program the states put on for mostly the older, yet anyone can do it. As much as I hate to say it, it is only dangerous when said person is not paying attention or is using bad judgement. Part of which is also due to those who aren’t anticipating a possible move by the slower party ie: pulling out right in front of me. Although frustrating as hell, it’s not dangerous because I anticipate these possible moves.

I think its a good idea, but I would’ve hated it when I was young!

Also, the 80mph limit is appropriate, here in Montana the law says you are able to be up to 10 mph over the limit if you are passing on a two-lane highway. So, it provides them the legal limit to pass on a two-lane(most are 70mph) and keep up on the interstate(which are 75mph in MT).

I think it is great.
The extra fuel warning, the not turning off warning systems, and the seat belt warnings are all great for an average teen. Frankly the are not so bad for an adult to be honest.
The other restrictions are at set able by the parents.
Seems like a choice all the way around.

that is so lame. its bad enough that the kid has to drive a focus. let them have some fun every once in a while.

I agree it sounds like a ood idea, but then I started thinking about how this could be exploited…

Some of those features would be good for rental car companies, some not.

Whatever you do to set these restrictions up better be pretty easy. Otherise you’ll find most people just won’t bother to use it. Say, first setting free at the dealership?

Keys should be easily recognizable so kids can’t claim they got the keys mixed up. For that matter, auto keys are pretty expensive nowadays, how many keys are they going to give you?

Lastly make sure its done in a way that isn’t hackable, otherwise the parents will simply be depending on something that doesn’t work.

Which make me think… what other ways is this gong to end up in a lawsuit?

Why do I get the feeling that bob (comment #10) is well south of 21 years old! As for the 80mph speed limit, nobody said that teens are destined to drive the freeways. They should be grateful to get the ride, period. If they think that getting around on local roads or having to stay in the right lane on smaller freeways, so be it. This is about getting around to school, sports and other functions…not showing off to friends and girls. Teens don’t realize the gravity of an accident till it’s usually too late. Parenting means setting up the parameters up front or cancelling the deal altogether.

I voted “no,” but that may have been hasty. We don’t have kids, so I haven’t “walked a mile in the shoes” of someone who does.

I’m more bummed out by Ford’s continual focus (no pun intended) on adding more and more electronic gimmicks to their cars. You would think that after the pounding that they’re taking that they would figure out that they should concentrate ALL of their energies into producing high-quality, crisp-handling, responsive vehicles. Diddling microprocessors to perform cute tricks is not a path to success.

Personally I would rather see a TATTLER system that would be down loadable. This system would collect data such as speed in relation to streets driven on and excessive hard braking full throttle starts etc. this would give a better idea of driving style that could be reviewed with your child and as a parent you could apply restrictions as needed rather that a preprogramed car system.
In the end we as parents need to be good examples and set the ground rules and punishments to teach our children to be good drivers not the car manufacturers.
The one exception to that statement would be a simple built in breath analyzer pry to start that could do a yes/no analyzation to see if the driver was OK to drive or had been drinking at all. Far to many of our kids drive after drinking. No soap box here just facts…

EYE CAM and others like it mount a mini camera on the rearview mirror that automatically tapes various “irregular” behaviors such as sudden swerves,braking, acceleration(usually based on g-forces).This is done using a 20-30 recording loop. When the irregularity occurs, it keeps the previous 15 sec and the following 15 sec. and permantently records it in its “black box”, which only the owner can examine and show as evidence in court or to the driver. New ones I’m sure couple this with GPS tracking.

While I would agree with Allen in #14, the problem is that it puts the onus back on the parents to actually look at the information. Wouldn’t be a popular choice.

Now that I think about it, the concept of tattler systems are not a new thing. Years after the fact, my father learned that his father used to leave his golf clubs in the high end of the trunk of their Anglia and would see where they ended up after the kids had been driving.

Wow guys. I admit the seat belt chime, and parking assist ideas are good. I can see where the 80 mph limiter comes into play. But the stereo volume limiter?
That’s just control freak-like. So what if some kid wants to blast their stereo? Their music is probably the only thing NOT going to be laughed at in a Ford Focus…

But this whole thing is just dumb, in my opinion. I mean what’s next: MyKnife? Every time you move the knife an alarm goes off so you don’t cut yourself, and it only lets you cut at one inch per minute, in case you go on a cutting frenzy! Oh, and parents can choose whether the knife has an actual blade or not in case they don’t *trust* their kids.

Maybe there’s a certain point where your kids need to learn on their own, if they book it at 100 mph on the highway and get a $500 speeding ticket, clearly they’re not going to do that again. And let’s face it, as soon as they buy their own car they’re going to rebel and try it at least once. Might as well teach them instead of hawking over them, and let their judgement take over. It’s called a learning process, and it can’t happen if you don’t give them any slack.

I agree with all the controls mentioned here and for the most part with giving the parents control over when they are used, but I would like to see one more control not mentioned here. I think the cell phone manufacturers and car companies should collaborate on a technology that makes your cell phone not work if the car is moving. It should be parent programmable like the functions talked about in the article. They could still call or text, but only after they pull over.