Ford Taurus MYKEY
 

I recently rented a car at RNO and was given a 2010 Taurus. Apparently Dollar is able to program the car with the Ford MY KEY system so that the top speed is 80mph, the volume of the stereo is limited and the stereo is muted if the driver's seatbelt is not fastened.

I found it highly annoying with a 70mph speed limit. The car would constantly chime around 75mph warning that I was approaching the 80mph limit. Upon reaching 80mph, the car would chime and no longer accelerate. Very annoying. I looked in the trunk for the master key but there was none.

Make sure you tell the local agent that and send an e-mail to corporate. Surely the locals know their speed limits. Perhaps a blanket corporate policy was invented by people in big cities with 50 mph speed limits left over from the Carter days.

If you're referring to the 55 mph limit imposed by Nixon in 1974, maybe you're right.

In the NY area, there are still some highways posted at 50 mph. I heard that's because the original rule was 50 mph cars, 55 mph trucks and buses. This dangerously placed big heavy vehicles in the passing lane, so a year later, the rule was changed to 55 mph for all vehicle sizes. Of course, whoever wrote that law, and the descendants who think we should return to it today, should spend some time driving in exactly the places you and I have been to.

Wow. Aren't there interstates in TX and now UT with 80mph speed limits? An annoying chime at 75 and hard limit of 80 could actually interfere with safety (most highway accidents are due to differences in speeds, rather than high speeds, so a car driving slower than surrounding traffic is actually a hazard).

Yes there are. Maybe you should remind Dollar of that :)

And yes, the difference in speeds phenomenon is well-documented. In the NY area, for instance, I-684 went to 65 mph, as did part of I-87 north of the Garden State Pkwy. Yet, when speed limits were raised, the actual measured speed of traffic didn't change much. The reason is that many cars were already traveling locally reasonable speeds.

MyKey correction
 

I know it's an old post, but it might still be useful information for anyone with the same problem.

Normally, dollar gives you two keys. One of the keys are programmed from the factory with the 80mph limit, the second one is not. The my key limit can be removed by using the master key (which normally is the other key).

To correct this a bit, dollar does not program MyKey to limit at 80mph, but Ford does it from the factory.

I had a Taurus from dollar with the same thing, and I used the second key to remove the MyKey limit. :) Read the manual guys. :)

Yes I must learn to read manual of every car I get into to make sure that all settings are correct next time. :rolleyes::rolleyes:

Same issue here on a recent rental.

I read the manual. I was only provided with one key and it was the MyKEY, not the master. I even tried going through the programming to reset the system and that was fruitless. Additionally, I looked in the trunk in the spare tire area looking for the master key.

Should this even be necessary for a rental? I don't think so.

Nope it shouldn't !

MyKey in Other Rental Brands?
 

This is the first I've heard about MyKey...I don't keep up with rental-car news too well.

I've reserved a Dollar rental in a couple of weeks out of Omaha, strictly on the basis of price. I'll be driving out on the open road, and would prefer not to have the car chiming at me if I should accidentally get up to 75 or 80 mph.

Is MyKey common in Dollar rentals? Should I switch to another brand (e.g., Budget) to avoid it?

I just rented a Ford Edge from Thrifty in DEN. It was equipped with a MyKey. However, it was not engaged. I was playing around with the menu settings and was able to activate and deactivate it.

Based on this, it appears that at least some of the Fords come equipped with the MyKey option (and this would be universal among any company that carries Fords, not just Dollar and Thrifty), but Dollar and Thrifty are not making any special effort to engage the MyKey system. It was probably activated (either purposefully or accidentally) by a previous customer, and that is certainly not something that the Dollar Thrifty detailers are not going to be looking for while quickly servicing the car. Also, Dollar Thrifty corporate locations virtually always give you both keys to the car, meaning you have all of the keys that the car was manufactured with--they don't maintain a spare anywhere. This means that the admin key--the one that can deactivate the MyKey system, should be in your possession. All you need to do is, if MyKey is activated, is figure out how to get into the menu system (Ford's menus are not nearly as intuitive as Chrysler's) and deactivate it.

Dollar Omaha appears to be a franchise, since they don't do one-ways, so their rules and offerings might be different.