Now kids can borrow car while parents control its performance

YOU'VE taken them out for driving lessons, helped them pass the test and watched them tear up the L plates – but now do you allow them to actually drive the family car?

• The new key would give cars like the Ford Mondeo reduced power and speed, putting the brake on temptation to be boy and girl racers. Picture: Complimentary

The dilemma facing every parent with a teenage driver could be eased with a new "youth key", which automatically cuts a car's performance and limits its speed.

The duplicate key also keeps the radio volume low when the windows are open and prevents the car from starting until everyone has their seatbelt on.

It can even set the car to "Cinderella mode", forcing a curfew-busting driver to limp home after midnight no faster than 40mph.

The technology, which is currently available only in the United States, is expected to reach the UK in the next two years.

It was showcased for the first time yesterday by the motor insurance research organisation Thatcham at an airfield in Oxfordshire.

The youth key is aimed at helping parents keep newly motoring offspring safe by enabling them to use the family car rather than having to resort to a smaller and older model with inferior safety features.

It is expected to cut sky-high insurance premiums for young drivers because the cars logs when the youth key is in use.

Safety experts said males under 21 were nearly ten times as likely to be killed or seriously injured as older drivers.

Matthew Avery, Thatcham's crash and safety research manager, said: "Young drivers often can't afford to drive a car like (a Mondeo] because of prohibitive insurance. But the youth key will not make a car dangerously slow. Most drivers could drive with it and not notice the difference."

Ford offers its version – MyKey – as standard in the US on its Focus and Taurus models.

Motoring groups gave a cautious welcome to the key, but warned that such devices would be only part of the solution.

Automobile Association president Edmund King said: "If technology can monitor the way a car is driven and safely restrict its use, then this is something we would be keen to study."

However, he added: "We still need to educate new drivers regarding their attitude and risk taking. We must be careful about limiting acceleration. An inexperienced driver may find it more difficult to judge the speed of approaching traffic."

Philip Gomm, of the Royal Automobile Club Foundation, said: "If a parent lends a child their vehicle, they have a right to expect it to be driven in a safe way. Limiting the level of music or imposing curfews is perhaps going too far, but some of the safety features might be appropriate for an age group which suffers a much higher casualty rate on the roads than any other

"Some of the features could benefit drivers of all ages, such as engine cutout linked to seatbelt wearing."

Ford said it had no immediate plans to introduce MyKey to the UK. A spokesman said it was focused on the "local demand" in the US, partly fuelled by the minimum driving age being 16 – one year younger than in the UK.