Don't Yamaha & Seadoo have similar programs on jet ski's to limit speed?

The admiral's bmw has the ability to set preset top speeds via the idrive. Although most teenagers would be able to by pass it in 2 seconds.

Exactly. Said another way, at what age do you up the limits or turn off the technology? And at that point, are they really better drivers?

But I still say, the idea of true parental control is not what should be feared. The technology is.

We don't have the computer gps system troop describes, but we do have this:

http://www.teensafedriver.com/

It is a camera and microphone system that is always on in the car. It only records, however, when it senses an "event" such as hard braking or cornering or too rough of a bump. It works to make my son more cognizant of his driving (which really was never a problem) and also gets us a BIG discount on insurance.

To answer Mark's original question, no, I don't think Ford has gone too far. Parents can use all sorts of tools to help them teach their kids - even good kids. Everyone makes errors in judgment. Teenagers as a group make more. Nothing wrong with using technology to help teach.

I am under the impression that car rental companies don't rent to folks under 25 because their brains have not fully developed. Meaning bad decisions. If that is true, nuff said.

I know of at least 10 kids who'd probably be alive right now if the car they were killed in had been "speed limited" to even 65 mph. There's several places in our area--several canyon roads, couple of nice curves out in the boonies, that kill people--usually teenagers-- on a regular basis. One of my kids lost 5 friends one night because the car lost traction on a curve just before a hill. They slid head-on into a cement wall supporting a drainage culvert. One of the boonie curves that used to kill people had no banking. It looked easy enough to take at 70 or even 80 mph, but the tires break loose, you slide off into the dirt, and roll over. That curve got a couple of my school mates, and a couple of my sisters schoolmates. (the road was one way to the high school) That area is now filled with homes. One thing that was drummed into my head back in the day---"Driving is a privilege, not a right". Had I been able to speed-limit the cars my kids drove when they got their licenses, it would've been "if you don't like it, you got feet." Sorry to soap box...

The phrase my kids got tired of hearing was...

"Well if you don't like it just push them Hush Puppies on down the street."

God they hated that phrase.