taylorc418

My thoughts exactly! When returning to the airport, I hit I-40 and was having merging issues because I couldn't accelerate to pass a slower vehicle, or accelerate to get out of the left lane so I could get the guy behind me off my rear.

cordelli

Has anybody seen one where the speed was limited but the volume was not? I think the easy way to tell if you have one or not on the lot is to get in, crank up the radio to 11 and see what happens. Will freak out the other customers, but it's one way to tell if you have the MyKey (the press calls it nanny key) or maybe the admin key.

drzoidberg

The 2011 Taurus Limited I rented is also equipped with MyKey; however, the MyKey doesn't appear to limit the speed.

It just chimes when it detects the car being near the top speed, e.g. 75 mph, but it's possible to drive over the MyKey limit.

3Cforme

There's a bit of flexibility in the feature set, actually. The scenario you outline is possible.

http://media.ford.com/article_displa...ticle_id=29172

I want to be in court the day somebody argues National made the car unsafe because the driver couldn't exceed the speed limit (it's no higher than 80mph on any public road in the U.S.) by the margin he wanted.

InkUnderNails

You've obviously never been in front of a full coal truck in the downhill side of an eastern Kentucky mountain, have you?

jackal

I've had two Ford Edges with MyKey from Thrifty and the speed limiter has not been activated. Additionally, Thrifty gives you both keys, and so I had the admin key in my possession.

I hate the idea of the speed limiter, especially given that there are some freeways now with 80mph speed limits. This thing is an absolute safety hazard. I encourage EVERYONE who has been affected by this to write a VERY strongly worded letter to Andy Taylor, CEO of Enterprise Holdings, Inc., the parent company of National. Maybe we can get this policy changed.

I wonder if it can be brought up in Auto Rental News, the industry trade magazine...

drzoidberg

Or at least set the speed limit a bit higher, say 90 mph, haha.

Tuneman1984

I had a Fusion for a few days that had the MyKey system, but it had not been activated. I fiddled around in the menu and accidentally activated it. Once that happens, only the admin key can turn it off. So it may not be National/Enterprise activating all of these. Here's what I did learn.

Every feature of MyKey can be customized to your specific needs. The speed limit, however, is set by the factory at 80 MPH (130 km/h) and cannot be customized. Here are the MyKey features and your options:

Speed Limit 80 MPH (130 km/h)
On
Off

Speed Warning Chime (Approaching Top Speed)
Chime at 55 MPH (90 km/h)
Chime at 65 MPH (105 km/h)
Chime at 75 MPH (120 km/h)
Off

Volume Limit
40%
Off

ESP System Cannot be Disabled
On
Off

So as you can see, there is an Off option for each of the MyKey settings. So it's conceivable to have a car with MyKey active but not actually controlling anything.

So, my friends, next time you rent a Ford, do your fellow forum dwellers a favour and disable all the features for future travellers. For bonus points, disable a line of Fusions on the Emerald Aisle if you have some time (you'll fit right in like you're checking for active Sirius or something).

kennycrudup

This isn't good- now they can lock out XM stations with the MyKey: see here.

It's gotten to where I won't rent National's GM cars now 'cause many of 'em don't have the "xL" stations active in the XM lineup, and now there's the potential for this.

Also, did you see the "65MPH" limit that can be imposed now? Good luck passing with that slow limit!

xSTRIKEx6864

Do all new Ford's have MyKey? If National is doing this with those cars, I'll simply choose anything but Ford from the Aisle.

cordelli

I am not 100% sure, but i believe it's available on most of the fleet cars. For regular every day cars, the press release for 2011 says

The new features will come standard issue on the 2011 Ford Taurus and Ford Explorer, and will eventually reach across both the Ford and Lincoln brands.

pragakhan

The problem here isn't whether or not this is a good thing or if one should be speeding, it is a problem because generally, the average person driving a Ford from a rental facility wouldn't expect their car to be limited to 80mph.

If it's a car you own, and you do not trust your self, or are a parent of a teen driver, then great, you may have helped aid in reducing the 2% of traffic accidents that are caused in the US by speed alone. However, as a firefighter, I don't think these should be activated, it is unsafe and creates a reasonable expectation that isn't there.

Speed can be used not just for fun, or urgency, but in an act of desperation to flee from a force that is intent on causing you harm. With road rage, weather, while the chances of something happening that would require you to flee for your life is very very rare, it's not saying it couldn't happen.

In other cases, you just may have to increase speed to merge into the flow of traffic, where I live, that is often around 80mph. There are too many variables and if National is intentionally turning this on, they need to place a sticker on the door letting the customer know it is activated and they have not been provided the admin key.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zomj6F7tyd4

Notice in this video it says if it is enabled, it will display as such in the information center when the car is turned on. It also says things like speed control are set post-factory.

seawolf

Normal speed people drive between Phoenix and Flagstaff is in excess of 80mph. I would hate to drive with MyKey enabled.

jwieczner

Hello, I'm a reporter working on a story about new automotive technology and safety controls for SmartMoney magazine. I'd love to talk to the people in this forum who have used MyKey, whether on purpose or by accident, and the experience they had with it. Please email me at [email protected] if you'd be willing to talk about your experience. Thank you so much, Jen

Motorskills

My experiences with MyKey, with Avis and National.