The planned approach of using a smart key with a specific teen driver key appears to be well
accepted by the reviewers. It is seen as feasible and the Ford MyKey system was pointed to as a
practical example currently available (though one person raised the question of whether the
technology was patented). Some commented on the fact that it may be defeatable, if the teen
borrows or copies another key. One reviewer more specifically stated that it is only practical where
the parent is controlling the teen’s vehicle usage and access to keys. Another noted that more
sophisticated and less easily defeated technologies (face recognition, eye scan, voice recognition)
might become available in high-end vehicles that already employ these technologies for other tasks.
Reviewers noted there was a potential problem with two virtual keys being present in the vehicle and
noted the need for one to be the primary key, with deferral to a teen key. It is also possible that a
non-teen may use the teen key, so one reviewer suggested developing a method to override the
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vehicle system or make the driver aware that the teen key causes the vehicle to enable the teen
system