- MyKey(TM), another innovation from the company that introduced SYNC(R), allows parents to limit speed and audio volume to encourage teens to drive safer and improve fuel efficiency.

- Harris Interactive Survey shows that many parents would allow teens to drive more often if their vehicle was equipped with MyKey - helping young drivers build road safety experience.

- MyKey will debut as a standard feature next year on the 2010 Ford Focus and will quickly be offered on many other Ford, Lincoln and Mercury models.

DEARBORN, Mich., Oct. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) is introducing an innovative new technology -- called MyKey -- designed to help parents encourage their teen-agers to drive safer and more fuel efficiently, and increase safety-belt usage.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081006/CLM019 )

Ford's MyKey feature -- which debuts next year as standard equipment on the 2010 Ford Focus and will quickly become standard on many other Ford, Lincoln and Mercury models -- allows owners to program a key that can limit the vehicle's top speed and audio volume. MyKey also encourages safety-belt usage, provides earlier low-fuel warnings and can be programmed to sound chimes at 45, 55 and 65 miles per hour.

'Ford not only offers industry-leading crash protection and crash avoidance systems, we also are committed to developing new technologies such as MyKey that encourage safer driving behavior,' said Susan Cischke, Ford group vice president of Sustainability, Environment and Safety Engineering. 'MyKey can help promote safer driving, particularly among teens, by encouraging seat belt use, limiting speed and reducing distractions.'

MyKey is appealing to parents of teen drivers, including 75 percent who like the speed-limiting feature, 72 percent who like the more insistent safety-belt reminder, and 63 percent who like the audio limit feature, according to a recent Harris Interactive Survey conducted for Ford.

About 50 percent of those who would consider purchasing MyKey also said they would allow their children to use the family vehicle more often if it were equipped with the new technology. The added seat time can help teens build their driving skills in a more controlled setting, complementing graduated licensing laws that give young drivers more driving freedom as they get older.

More than half of parents surveyed worry that their teen-age children are driving at unsafe speeds, talking on hand-held cell phones or texting while driving, or otherwise driving distracted.