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Now THAT is a Ford I would buy. Wicked Beautiful!
When will the real-time GPS tracking be available?
If you can afford the overpriced SHOW…you can afford to buy your child a car of their own?
“allows teens to make smart decisions”
Is this one of those “depends on how you look at it” things? Because it sure seems like MyKey removes choice/decision making from the equation entirely.
Also, at least one of those drivers seemed more distracted by the random music volume limitation than the music itself.
It’s funny how the things you would have detested as a kid make so much sense when you have kids of your own…
WTF is a Taurus “Show”????? It’s S-H-O you tool. And I don’t even work for Ford.
Actually, there’s a real easy way: make your kid pay for their own insurance.
Teaches them:
A) To drive as though they’re paying for it
B) Fight BS tickets.
WTF is a Taurus “Show”????? It’s S-H-O you tool. And I don’t even work for Ford.
No…watch the ads. Ford calls it the Ford Taurus SHOW.
Ford’s words…not mine. If they were my words…it would be the ‘Ford Taurus S-H-O’…which is the proper way.
Actually, there’s a real easy way: make your kid pay for their own insurance.
Teaches them:
A) To drive as though they’re paying for it
B) Fight BS tickets.
That makes way too much sense.
On another note…can it disable sYnC? Because that is one big electronic distraction.
MyKey can –
– make the seatbelt chime incessant until buckled
– limit max audio volume
– set speed alert chimes
– limit max speed
– set low fuel warning to 75 miles till empty
– keep stability control and parking sensors active
There would be no reason for it to turn off Sync, as if Sync were disabled the driver could still use his/her cell phone and MP3 player. All things being equal, it is provably safer to do those things hands free, even if not doing them at all while driving would be the safest choice.
Here is a better idea. Why don’t we have “P” plates in the US like they do in the UK and Australia. For your first two years of driving, you have to use the “P” plate, which restricts your hours and location. They way you get get the needed experience from time behind the wheel without before being allowed to drive in more dangerous conditions.
What a great example of parental “Do as I say, not as I do”. While I know that teens will do stupid stuff, it seems like the hypocrisy of the MyKey will be what kids learn. And does anyone really believe that the average tech-savvy kid won’t quickly figure out how to reprogram his MyKey, with help from Internet postings?
I think that the automotive data recorder (GPS and accelerometer) would be a better solution. If the kid knows that everyone’s driving is being monitored he’s less likely to feel persecuted. Of course, that means that Dad might have some explaining to do himself.
If we have to call this car the “show,” are the other models the “seh” and “sell?”
The cynical portion of my brain wonders:
So, how long before tech savvy teens figure how to hack MyKey?
P71_CrownVic :
September 15th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
Ford’s words…not mine. If they were my words…it would be the ‘Ford Taurus S-H-O’…which is the proper way.
It’s their car. I suspect that they can pronounce it anyway they want.
Well, P_71, if it were my words, I’d call you…nevermind, I’m not going to get my post deleted.
It’s their car. I suspect that they can pronounce it anyway they want.
Thank you!
To bad my parents have always been kinda easy on me. If not I’d have taken a “reasonable” 70mph limit, testing through my local (Roger Williams) state park. Parental control grinds my gears.
I’m not 100% sure but I believe MyKey works off of some form of RFID identifier inside that particular keyfob combined with a profile stored within some form of flash memory in the car. So, it may be possible to hack the system via using an OBD Code reader, or through a more low-tech way by disconnecting the battery from the terminal and letting everything reset to default, unless those settings are stored in non-volatile memory. If the profile is on the key itself, some form of RFID reader/writer would be needed.
In any event, teens looking to get around the restrictions would find it much easier to just ‘borrow’ the master key while their parents were asleep or out of the house, and use that to remove the restrictions.
All things being equal though, the MyKey restrictions aren’t that tough to live with. I can’t recall the last time I have had my car over 85mph, and everyone should be wearing seatbelts anyway. As far as audio volume goes, 44% is more than loud enough on any of the Ford stereos I have heard for those in the car, and it will save other drivers from having to listen to whatever is popular amongst the high school crowd at stop lights.
All of these ’10 SHO ads give off a hint of pretentiousness that I find offputting for a reborn American cult hit.
Also, far be it from a “white trash” Pontiac fan like myself to stereotype, but those four prospective SHO owners look like they just stepped out of a Viagra or Flomax commercial.
I’m sure that the SHO will look swell parked between the “weekend toy” yellow automatic Corvette C6 convertible and the wife’s BMW X5.
_
The teens all look like rejects from “The Fiesta Movement”.
Another chapter in “The Adventures of Sissy and Nanny”.
I would hate Ford and my parents forever, would I be allowed to hate.
So, I nod in appreciation and find it a splendid idea.
ajla – Given that the 2010 SHO leans towards fast luxury more than pure sport, and that the prices range from $38K – $45K, aiming at the middle age middle class man makes perfect sense – sporty without giving up comfort, at a price point that holds some presitge but isn’t unattainable for those approaching mid-life crisis.
herb – No one is going to force anyone to actually activate the MyKey features, and I have a feeling that much like the V-chip, it’s going to be something parents look at and think ‘wow, what a nice idea’ but never get around to actually using. Still, it makes for good marketing.
You know what might be an interesting experiment? Given that most parents I know would probably ask their kids to set the MyKey settings, I wonder how many teenagers are hacking the keys so that when they drive it is at full power/no limits, but when anyone else drives it is with reduced power/stereo/etc. Of course the savvy hacker would make sure to turn off the chiming, or other audible/visual warnings, so their parents wouldn’t know about the backwards settings. How long do you think this would last before the parents figured it out? My guess is the real race is what happens first: Junior getting his first “40 over the limit/reckless” ticket, or Dad paying a couple grand in repairs to remedy “turbo lag.”
Was I the only teen whose parents didn’t care how fast I drove? I remember bragging to my dad when I got the little Ranger to 106 and beat a V10 Dodge Ram in a street race on a back road because it had a 105 governer on it. He was proud. As far as parents restricting their kids’ driving. If the parents own the car and pay for their insurance, they can do what they want with it. If kids need more, they can get a job and buy it all themselves.
This is the kind of shit my father would have been all over when I was a teen. Thank God this didn’t exist in the ’60s and ’70s. However, I survived my stupidity. Not all teens do, so in my books this is a positive move on Ford’s part. This will probably save a few lives, and for that there will be grateful parents whose children hate them.
It’s called WHAT!… MyKey? I’m calling my lawyer. copyright infringment eh?
Mikey:
You made me laugh out loud. The dog is looking at me funny, and the cat took off for parts unknown!
Just let me have that on my wife’s Volvo, and I’m a much more relaxed parent.
@ monty… Forget the lawyer shit. I’m willing to settle for a Mustang GT ragtop in baby puke green sitting in my driveway,tomorrow AM. Final offer.
Does it bug anybody else that he calls it a Taurus “Show”?
mistercopacetic, for some reason your post about the kid setting the slow settings for the parental units reminds me of the time when my father got his new International pickup. After he’d had it a couple of months, I set all the radio pushbuttons to the same station. He was all irritated that the pushbuttons had quit working so soon. After a few days I returned them to their original settings without saying anything.
What’s wrong is that cars targeting old guys are not supposed to mock young guys… they are supposed to pretend to target young guys.
As an old guy I am insulted. And yes, “show” bothers me a lot.
Great looking car in SHO trim, but if I had that kind of cash burning a hole in my pocket I doubt I’d spend it on a Ford. Sorry.
As for the MyKey: I wouldn’t let my kid drive my new SHO (if I had a kid or an SHO) period. MyKey or not.
fincar1 : Ha, I nearly choked on my mango juice just now. Well done sir!
Does Mykey lower insurance premiums for these drivers? For it should, since it addresses key concerns an insurance company would have. even 10% would be a welcome relief.
Today is your Father, tomorrow is your ruling class in Washington having the master “My Key”.
Great for some, but neither me or my brothers were allowed to drive our parents’ car around.
It’s a clever idea from Ford and a damn nice looking car. Makes me want to forget about the Ford Five Hundred.
I am a professional driver, a CDL holder, and in 4 years I’ve accumulated over 500K miles, driving throughout America. I’m almost bored with driving, and a regular vehicle seems like a toy compared to an 18 wheeler when I’m behind the wheel. That being said, why on earth would I give a teenager a 300+ HP vehicle to drive!? He/She is a noob when it comes to driving, so no matter how I set those limits on that car, why would I give my child a $40K vehicle to drive that is capable of delivering over 300HP? Teenagers need safe, non flashy vehicles. For example, a good, used, Crown Victoria would make much more sense. They would of course have to pay for at least part of it. You can get one at the State/Police auction for around $5000, and in good condition, with under 100K miles on the clock. How about a small SUV (Hyundai comes to mind)? They need to learn responsibility, and they have to show that they can be trusted.
If you forbid your child something, and close all the communication lines to your child, you’ll pretty much loose your child in a couple of years.
Giving kids flashy/new/powerful vehicles, even to drive around encourages them to do stupid things, it encourages consumerism and narcissism: “I;m sure my friends would like me more if I’d drive them around in my dad’s SHOW” (pun intended).
Last thing that I want to say is that limiting a vehicles abilities, like speed for instance, is dangerous. What if your kid is on the freeway in one of those dangerous situations that they need a bit of extra speed, and you, the parent, because Ford said that you could do it, limited the speed to say, uhm, 65MPH, and something bad happens to your kid? I can see the stupid lawsuits in the not so distant future.
A feature that is mostly useless, that you’ll be charged for, a pretty bad idea. If it would have been a good idea, others would have done it a long time ago.
What’s an Audi A6?
Heads up Audi … your mind share may be slipping among the new slacker generation.
sixspeed – MyKey isn’t exclusive to the SHO, it is going to become a standard feature on almost every Ford vehicle. Even if teens have their own basic car, certain situations may arise where they need to use one of their parents vehicles, I know that came up from time to time when I was just starting to drive.
As far as the speed limiter goes, as I understand it, the lowest it can be set is 80mph. Given that the max freeway speed in most states is 65mph, 80 gives plenty of headroom. If someone is in a situation where they need to be driving over 80mph on public roads, they have many more problems than fast driving will solve.
All things being equal, it is provably safer to do those things hands free
WRONG!
It is not unsafe to hold a phone to your ear…it is the act of being engaged in a telephone conversation that is extremely dangerous.
SYNC allows (and encourages) such conversations when you drive; Ford is being EXTREMELY hypocritical when they endorse the gimmick SYNC as a way to allow phone calls while driving…but speak out ion favor of banning texting while driving.
It’s their car. I suspect that they can pronounce it anyway they want.
As can I…but the original ads called the car by the proper name…S-H-O. Now, all of the sudden it’s the SHOW? Makes no sense.
The car’s full name is “Ford Taurus S-H-O”. However, it’s acceptable to say something like, “hey, lets take the SHO(W) to dinner”. It is not acceptable to say, “I drive a Ford Taurus SHOW”.
I have a few friends who are S-H-O nuts…and they are outraged that Ford mis-pronounces this cars name.
If you are holding the phone to your ear you either have one hand off the wheel or have your head contorted at an odd angle to keep it there, either way, you’d be a safer driver if your hands were both on the wheel and your eyes on the road.
There is also the time it takes to fish the phone out of your pocket when it rings, eyes off the road to look at who is calling, hit the answer button, and get it situated, with Sync you can do all of that without glancing away from what is in front.
As I said, it’s safer all around to just not take calls while driving, but someone who is going to do it is going to do it hands free or not, at least hands free they are a little safer.
I love it.
Seriously.
I’d like it to not only limit top speed, though, but also limit power. Potentially life-saving if you let a teen or a friend borrow your precious car.
Yeah, it’s selfish bastardry… but if I pay for it… why should I let other people hoon with it? (yes, I’m also a hypocrite… want some donuts? No you can’t have any! They’re all mine!)
I couldn’t help but to notice that breakaway shot of the “Show’s” speedo climbing at a very rapid rate. Makes me painfully aware of how slowly the speedo in my ’94 Vic rotates in a clockwise direction.
Unless, of course, the video was sped up to give the illusion of neck-snapping acceleration. Well, as BDB was kind enough to point out, it’s their car. They can (mis)represent it any way they want to.
This is what you get when you use rules and gimmicks to avoid needing to teach values and decision making. My first car was a ’62 Bonneville. It had a setable needle on the speedo that buzzed when you hit a certain speed. The more it buzzed, the more I buzzed! But I knew I was doing wrong and finally grew up. This device will not save insurance dollars or their lives, but good grades and good values at least have a chance. My own son has to learn more lessons behind the wheel, but this device would not help him learn faster. That’s my job.
Why do people look tiny inside this thing?
sixspeed :
September 15th, 2009 at 10:07 pm
Giving kids flashy/new/powerful vehicles, even to drive around encourages them to do stupid things, it encourages consumerism and narcissism: “I;m sure my friends would like me more if I’d drive them around in my dad’s SHOW” (pun intended).
I don’t know about that. Growing up, I inherited my mom’s ’75 Olds wagon to get around in, but my dad was into cars (Caddy Eldorado, a couple of Mercedes 450s, and my sweetheart, a BMW 730i with a stick). Driving his ride on date nights and to youth group meetings was my reward for doin’ right around the house.
Rolling up in a Benz or Bimmer did nothing for me socially, a fact I figured out early, but I LOVED driving them – who wouldn’t? As a result, I was a pretty solid citizen when I was a kid.
So, if I set the limit for 80 mph, and my kid pulls out to make a “looks like enough room to pass but I need to punch it manouver”, then hits the limiter while she is alongside the car being passed and ends up in a head-on collision, who gets sued? Me or Ford?
Having enough speed available is sometimes a safety feature. I’m not into this at all.
dmrdano has it 100% right. We don’t need electronics to teach our kids to drive safely.
Am I the only one whose first thought was “I’d love to stick one of these in any car Jack Baruth drives?”