“Ford has a long-standing commitment to safety, as we seek to improve crash protection, crash avoidance and safe driving behavior,” said Susan Cischke, Ford group vice president of Sustainability, Environment and Safety Engineering. “When it comes to teens, Ford is using extensive research to develop educational and technological solutions to help reduce the loss of young lives on our roads as opposed to restricting the legal driving age.”
A recent Harris Interactive Study commissioned by Ford gleaned insights into the concerns of parents and teen-agers on the issue of driving safety. For example, 57 percent of parents worry that cell phone conversations are distracting their teen drivers, while 34 percent of surveyed teens say they talk on their phones while driving. At the same time, 15 percent of teens said they text while driving, while 51 percent of parents are concerned about this practice. When it comes to speeding, 53 percent of parents worry their teens drive too fast and 44 percent of teens surveyed admitted to it.
Teen safety campaign launches
With Oct. 19-25 marking the second annual National Teen Driver Safety Week Ford Motor Company Fund and the Governors Highway Safety Association are hosting multiple teen-safe driving events showcasing Ford Driving Skills for Life (DSFL). Ford’s education program was launched in 2003, and to date has trained approximately 332,000 students online and more than 4,000 students in hands-on events.
Ford researchers identified the lack of four key skills for teen drivers – hazard recognition, vehicle handling, space management, and speed management. At Ford’s DSFL event in Phoenix, Ariz., next week, more than 1,000 students will learn those critical skills in hands-on driver training by some of the nation’s top professional driving instructors.
“The Driving Skills for Life program is just one example of Ford’s overall commitment to safety,” said Jim Graham, community relations manager of Ford Motor Company Fund. “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.”
Reinforcing Safe Driving Practices
Ford’s new MyKey feature – which will be offered standard across many Ford, Lincoln and Mercury models beginning in early 2009 – was designed to encourage safe driving behavior by teens, and increase safety-belt usage.
The technology allows owners to program a key that can limit the vehicle’s top speed to 80 mph and audio volume to less than half of the maximum. MyKey also encourages safety-belt usage, provides earlier low-fuel warnings and can be programmed to sound special chimes at 45, 55 and 65 miles per hour.
“We found plenty of evidence supporting the need for this technology,” said Andy Sarkisian, Ford safety planning and strategy manager, citing government data that shows 58 percent of 16-20 year-olds involved in fatal accidents were unbuckled. “For example, seat-belt usage is the lowest among teenagers, yet seat belts are the No. 1 life-saving device in accidents. So, we are turning up the Beltminder system’s annoyance factor a bit with MyKey.”
Not surprisingly, parents like MyKey and teens don’t – at least at first glance. However, 50 percent of parents who consider purchasing it said they would give their young drivers more access to the family vehicle – an incentive that changed many teen opinions. Initially, 67 percent of teens polled said they wouldn’t like MyKey. However, if using MyKey would lead to greater driving privileges, only 36 percent would object to the technology.
The MyKey system allows the parent to program any key through the vehicle message center, which updates the SecuriLock™ passive anti-theft system. When the MyKey is inserted into the ignition, the system reads the transponder chip in the key and immediately identifies the MyKey code, which enables certain default driving modes, including:
- Persistent Ford Beltminder™ with audio mute. With MyKey, Beltminder automatically mutes the vehicle’s audio system when a safety belt is unsecured. A message center display “Buckle Up to Unmute Radio” also appears on the instrument cluster. In addition, the reminder chimes 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 alert 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.
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Results of Harris Interactive SurveysParents
- 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. MyKey also will be offered as a standard feature
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)
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About Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, Mich., manufactures or distributes automobiles across six continents. With about 229,000 employees and about 90 plants worldwide, the company's core and affiliated automotive brands include Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Volvo and Mazda. The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. For more information regarding Ford's products, please visit www.ford.com
Survey Methodology
The Parent survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive on behalf of Ford between August 1 and August 5, 2008) among 347 parents of teenage drivers.
The Teen survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive on behalf of Ford between September 17 and September 22, 2008) among 249 teenage drivers.
No estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated; a full methodology is available.
About Harris Interactive
Harris Interactive is a global leader in custom market research. With a long and rich history in multimodal research that is powered by our science and technology, we assist clients in achieving business results. Harris Interactive serves clients globally through our North American, European and Asian offices and a network of independent market research firms. For more information, please visit www.harrisinteractive.com.
