Heard the term, parental lock?
 
It’s on your MySky, the Internet and now Ford is planning to bring a parental lock control system to their vehicles by introducing a new car key technology.
It’s going to work by limiting what the car is capable of doing for different drivers.
The new system is to be called MyKey and it’s a technology that allows Ford owners to limit a number of key functions within the vehicle to suit different family members.
 
The vehicle can be set to sound warning chimes at preset speeds to help draw attention to when those higher or unacceptable speeds have been reached. It will also have a longer-range low-fuel warning light, which will light up with 120K’s left of fuel in the tank insuring that no one runs out of petrol.
 
The MyKey system works on the ability of the vehicles system to recognise different preset keys, it then adjusts the settings of the vehicle depending on which key is being used in the car. This is an effort to introduce a parent controlled sensible safety setting based on the experience level of the driver.
 
Part of the reason for this type of technology comes from the over-representation in crash-related statistics in both Australia and New Zealand of younger and inexperienced drivers. According to Ford, MyKey provides some direct parental control over their car. It allows owners to set sensible restrictions and delivers peace-of-mind for parents.
 
MyKey will first be seen in the Ford Fiesta ST hot-hatch, which goes on sale this year.

Ford is saying that this system will be rolled out on future models as they are launched.
Is this a must have?
I guess if inexperienced drivers in your family are asking to use you new hot hatch, then it could be a helpful benefit.
 
April 2015