Chevy Malibu 'Teen Driver' Tech Will Snitch If You Speed 224
mpicpp writes General Motors wants to help curb teen crashes with a new system that lets parents monitor their kids' driving habits—even when mom and dad aren't actually in the car. Dubbed Teen Drive, the new system will debut in the 2016 Chevy Malibu, offering a bunch of features designed to encourage safe driving. It will, for instance, mute the radio or any device paired with the car when front seat occupants aren't wearing their seatbelts, and give audible and visual warnings when the vehicle is traveling faster than preset speeds. It doesn't end there. Brace yourself, teens, because you might not like this next part too much. The new system also lets parents view a readout of how you drove the car, including how fast you went, how far you drove, and whether any active safety features (like over-speed warnings) were engaged. Parents can also set the radio system's maximum volume to a lower level, and select a maximum speed between 40 and 75 miles per hour, which, if exceeded, will trigger warnings.
Yeah because you know... (Score:2)
...you let your teenage kid drive your brand new 2016 car.
In the real world, most would typically have to endure the initial "proving grounds" shitbox of a car first.
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Today's brand new 2016 car is next decade's shitbox old 2016 car.
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Entirely true. It would just make more sense if they developed technology that could be retrofitted in to any car instead of just their newest line.
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There's probably an app for that. Granted it would be easy enough to just turn your phone off, but it would be pretty suspicious if data wasn't getting logged.
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If car manufacturers did sensible things we wouldn't have had to bail them out a few years ago.
They love vendor lock-in and planned obsolescence as much as gadget manufacturers do.
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If car manufacturers did sensible things we wouldn't have had to bail them out a few years ago.
You mean, like, not hire the UAW to run their fabrication for them? Yeah, that would have gone a long way to avoiding that bailout.
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Such things already exist. Devices that plug into the OBD2 port on a vehicle and monitor/log all the relavent information already exist. Some combine this with GPS tracking (to log where the car is as well as how its being driven).
Plenty of options for parents to monitor how their teenager is driving and whether they are driving safely or not, this just happens to be one actually built into the car (and capable of doing more than just logging as a result)
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Entirely true. It would just make more sense if they developed technology that could be retrofitted in to any car instead of just their newest line.
There are a fucking million of them [google.com] but, what good is a device that goes for around $100 when you can sell [announcer voice] aaaaaaaa new caaaaaaar! [/announcer voice].
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Except there's no positive purpose of this technology outside of driving home to your kid that you don't trust them, ever, or for any reason. Discount for the moment the fact that this sort of technology is also intended to keep tabs on where every human is all the time, do you really trust your kid so little to do the right thing that you need a technological solution to a complete non-problem? Why the fuck even give them a car if you can't bring yourself to trust that they'll do the right thing?
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You've clearly never lived among The Beautiful People of southern California, where a lot of kids would literally murder their parents in their sleep if they didn't get a brand new car for their 16th birthday.
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Hell, in Southern California we have kids who murder other kids and off themselves because the brand new BMW, large allowance, college tuition, and rent weren't enough.
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And let's not go in to give your 16 year old a boob job for her birthday, eh?
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Not just A brand new car, but it has to be a NICE brand new car. Mustang, Camaro, BMW, etc.
A brand new Toyota Corolla? As IF! Mom, why do you hate me?
Living outside of California, I was thrilled to be granted access to the family vehicle (and would be thrilled whether it was a minivan, or a Kia Rio), later I was thrilled to have to opportunity to inherit it for my exclusive use (as it reached the shitbox phase in life).
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Yes lets take inexperienced drivers and put them in an unreliable vehicle. What a BRILLIANT plan.
Re:Yeah because you know... (Score:5, Insightful)
Old doesn't necessarily mean unsafe or unreliable. Plenty of people drive 10 year old cars that are not putting them in danger.
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And does that seem like the kind of POS junker the GP was talking about?
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Many older Japanese cars like Corollas, Pulsars, Civics etc are VERY reliable and still good choices even today (in terms of the likelihood of things going wrong and needing to be fixed) as long as they haven't been written off (crashed and rebuilt and re-registered) and have been properly maintained.
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Older Corollas and Civics(and many others), Yes. Very reliable and safe cars.
Pulsar(Hell no!) Dad bought my brother one that was 3 years old. Always in the shop. You would not need this monitor on the Pulsar, they were absolute slugs. So much in fact that I consider them dangerous. It was such a slug that when driving you were unable to Avoid trouble. I actually(on my brothers behalf) took he and dad on a test drive to prove to dad it was dangerously slow and unresponsive.
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A late 2000s base model suburu impreza is the perfect new driver car. 2.0l 4wd, non turbo, fast enough to do the speed limit but slow enough to not get yourself in trouble. And they are bullet proof. And for the vanity concious teenage they look pretty decent.
Given it will be 12 years before my eldest is on the road though my impreza will probably be long gone by then
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It's been done for decades for more than 90% of the population, Let me guess you were just born yesterday and you live in beverly hills.
less than 1% of new drivers have a new car. 90% drive a shotbox that is barely running. Most dont have a nice trust fund that pays them $4500 a week like you do.
Re:Yeah because you know... (Score:4, Funny)
It's a Chevy. It's already a shitbox.
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Good point. You are a genius. Chevrolet should have added these features in 2006. That way, they wouldn't be stupidly adding them to a brand new car. Wait, what?
we also need real speed limits on highways (Score:2)
we also need real speed limits on highways no more on of this 45-55 shit on 3-4+ lane ones much less major toll roads.
Whew! (Score:2)
And a discount from the insurance company ... (Score:2)
Glad this wasn't around when I was 18. Of course then my insurance was more than the car payment.
Aren't insurance companies offering discounts for installing such devices reporting to them? If not, perhaps soon?
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A cheaper solution (Score:3, Insightful)
If you don't trust your kids, don't lend them your car.
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If you don't trust your kids, don't lend them your car.
It isn't about trusting your kid, it is about learning the hard way how your kid's behavior can change in the company of others his own age.
Especially when alcohol is involved.
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If you don't trust your kids, don't lend them your car.
Trust, but verify. :-)
"Trust but verify" is a joke. If you feel the need to verify, then you don't trust.
Teenagers shouldn't be driving NEW cars anyway (Score:3, Insightful)
Teenage drivers with fresh licenses should be driving older cheaper-to-buy cars.
Unless a teenager (or their parents) are rich, they should be buying an older cheaper car that doesn't require taking out a massive auto loan. In Australia the usual recommendation/good option is something small and Japanese like a Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic, Suzuki Swift, Mitsubishi Lancer, Nissan Pulsar, Mazda 323, Honda Jazz or something like that but in the US the best option may be different.
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Nonsense, I totally think kids should be in new cars...
New cars tend to have the best safety equipment, or at least better than what was standard 5-10 years ago.
I'll bring up my point right here:
https://youtu.be/TKL_cn8vhjo [youtu.be]
Re:Teenagers shouldn't be driving NEW cars anyway (Score:4, Informative)
The roads in Australia are filled with SUVs just as much as they are in the US (and that number seems to be growing all the time based on my observations) and yet people who know what they are talking about (including a family member who has been working in dealerships and selling both new and used cars for decades and now works in management at a dealer) still recommend small fuel efficient Japanese cars as good first cars for young drivers (despite the "increased risk" if they get into an accident with an SUV)
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Civic vs Generic SUV will be a one-sided fight no matter what happens.
A while back I had a look at the actual data. At the time, there was some sort of Mercedes station wagon that had the lowest number of fatalities. My take away was that if you can afford a relatively new car with modern safety features (e.g. for the family but to share with the teen) then the smaller cars are plenty safe.
I did have some neighbors who had a daughter who wasn't very "focused" as a teenager ("airhead" was the terminology we used back in the day). Well, long story short they did the selfish thi
Re: Teenagers shouldn't be driving NEW cars anyway (Score:2)
Get off my lawn (Score:3)
Why can't they have what I had?
A POS car that could only go 75 if you turned off the AC.
The radio would cut out when you turned left, and if you tried to turn the volume up, you'd just blow a fuse anyway.
The backseat was so small you weren't getting up to anything even if you could convince a girl to look past the rust and bubbling clear-coat.
All this for less than $1k, and it gets 40mpg due to the three horsepower engine (one for each working cylinder)! Put the money you save into their college fund since they now have a chance of getting out of high school alive and childless.
Now excuse me as a I return to my Fortress of Solitude...
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Your first car had an A/C? Wow....
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reduced the speed huh (Score:5, Funny)
Those poor kids might have escaped the tornado if their car hadn't been limited to 45 miles per hour.
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Not like there has been much to run from [ustornadoes.com] the last few years.
How did we ever survive? (Score:2)
just one more step into the 24/7 surveillance life. Get them used to it early, then they won't think it abnormal it later.
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Many did. My graduating class in the last two years we had 40 kids out of a graduating class of 300 die in car accidents.
One of them at the rear of a semi truck in a corvette at well over 100 mph. 16 to 18 year olds are absolutely not mature enough to drive safely on their own. There are exceptions, like kids that started driving at 12 on the farm, or kids that started riding dirt bikes at age 8.. They all made very safe drivers because they had the years of experience that the car is not a big toy a
OMG so HIGH TECH! (Score:3)
we had this for over a decade. ODB-II dongle that is easy to install that records all that. Hell you could buy a version that had a gps that logged location.
Glad to see GM is finally catching up to 2005!
Pure marketing, no payoff as usual (Score:2)
Kids learn from their mistakes. I learned from mine as much as my parents tried to protect me, mine learned from theirs. I made some real doozies but miraculously survived, by all indications mine weren't as reckless. Not positive it was because I was far less restrictive but it seems plausible.
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Kids learn from their mistakes.
Yup, except for the dead ones. Also hard for the other people they kill to learn to avoid being around teenage drivers.
Liability? (Score:3)
I wonder how much this opens the owner up to additional liability when there's an accident and the opposing council subpenas the records of the vehicle and shows a pattern of reckless driving?
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Comment removed (Score:3)
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The Mark II version will simply report on you and you'll get your ticket in the mail, bypassing the insurance company. (well, they'll raise your rates and get a cut too) I can't wait for the redlight camera scam version of that where they 'misprogram' a road at 15mph below the posted speed and ticket everyone.
Been there, done that (Score:3)
In the noughties my employers set out to develop similar technology. We had GPS-based units that would record where a vehicle was and could be programmed to tell on you if you drove too fast, stopped for too long, went to somewhere you weren't supposed to go, and so on. They communicated over a 2 way paging network.
The technology worked. I did the mobile device programming and put together a test unit that used differential GPS. Instead of telling you which street you were on, it could tell you which lane you were in. :-)
The marketing, on the other hand, didn't work. :-(
...laura
Re:How About (Score:5, Insightful)
Because then you'll have shithead 20somethings on the road instead, with no parental supervision whatsoever.
The only way to learn to drive is to drive.
Re:How About (Score:5, Insightful)
Because then you'll have shithead 20somethings on the road instead, with no parental supervision whatsoever.
The only way to learn to drive is to drive.
The difference is teens are much more shithead-like than 20-somethings (not that I haven't noticed the increasing prevalence of 20-something shitheads), and teens are often not held responsible (legally or financially) for their actions (further enabling shithead behavior).
Re:How About (Score:5, Insightful)
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In my day, we didn't have friends.
Re:How About (Score:5, Funny)
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No cell phones meant your parents couldn't track you, and Lordy....I'd have long lost a car if they'd not only tracked me but monitored my speed. UGH!!
At least we were free to be kids back then, and learn from our actions, sure there were some bad times and consequences, but that's a part of growing up!!
So glad there wasn't a fucking camera EVERYWHERE I went as a kid and a teen....
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And the third thing is going to be the security state's jackboot crushing their neck for subverting "lawful" surveillance of all human activity. In all likelihood the parents will be held equally responsible for their children's terrorist activity.
Re:How About (Score:4, Interesting)
If it's like the Ford model that had a similar feature a few years ago, it's controlled by which key you use - regular key, valet key, teenager key. Yeah, most teens could easily swap keys with Mummy or Daddy, but then Mummy and Daddy will start getting warnings when they speed or play the radio too loud.
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If it's like the Ford model that had a similar feature a few years ago, it's controlled by which key you use - regular key, valet key, teenager key. Yeah, most teens could easily swap keys with Mummy or Daddy, but then Mummy and Daddy will start getting warnings when they speed or play the radio too loud.
only if the teen isn't smart enough to only use the parent key to deactivate the limits on the teen key then return the parent key.
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My kids, who just turned 8, are unlikely to even learn how to drive. They'll live in a world where all cars are self-driving, and which report all location data to the security services for National Security. We'll be sold on the convenience of self-driving cars, in return for the manufacturers knowing where every car is at every moment. Since self-driving cars will be leased, and not sold (even if they were sold, vehicle registration takes care of the identification), they'll know, more or less, who is
self-driving cars at least 5 years away and then (Score:2)
self-driving cars at least 5 years away and then it will likely be only on some roads / self drive only roads. Self-driving cars will be leased, as long as the leasening co is willing to take the risks.
Also we need more public transportation.
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If your kids never learn to drive its likely either becau
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If your kids never learn to drive its likely either because they live in a dense urban area with good public transit or are too rich to drive themselves.
Well I can assure you neither of those are true, but if Google and Tesla are to be believed self driving cars are much nearer to reality than not.
These automatic driving features are already being rolled out by premium brands like Mercedes or BMW. I saw a commercial last night about a Mercedes that could stop itself if necessary. That's not to mention the self-parking features being added to the high-end models. Some of those features probably even find their way to the mid-range brands like Buick.
The s
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Autonmous features are already finding in their way into high end models, as we speak. Here's a self driving Mercedes. [youtube.com] They're also advertising features such as automatic stopping of the vehicle if some obstruction appears in the road. Many mid to high end brands also advertise self-parking features, which would envolve many of the same "smarts" as needed for the car to drive itself. I'm no sage, I don't know how long it's going to take for autonomous cars to be mainstream. But given that these feature
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You clearly have a better class of 20something on your planet than we have here on earth.
Re:How About (Score:5, Interesting)
There's a growing intolerance for giving people the space to learn because 'safety' has become more important than exposure to graduated life lessons. Driving is one of them. Not letting teens drive just gives us all a bunch of 20 year olds who can't drive.
Re:How About (Score:5, Insightful)
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It isn't just safety in a driving sense, safety has become an all encompassing ideal. Life isn't good unless you and your own are safe at all times, from all things, even from themselves. Just look at all the baby boomers pushing the encroachment of CPS (CHild Protective Services) into all aspects of parenthood? Don't you DARE let your children roam free (exactly how those baby boomers did), or the authorities will descend on you with full fury. Don't you DARE let your young adults experience even a sma
Re:How About (Score:4, Interesting)
Because then you'll have shithead 20somethings on the road instead, with no parental supervision whatsoever.
The only way to learn to drive is to drive.
The difference is teens are much more shithead-like than 20-somethings (not that I haven't noticed the increasing prevalence of 20-something shitheads), and teens are often not held responsible (legally or financially) for their actions (further enabling shithead behavior).
Actually, numerous studies have shown that teen drivers are no worse than inexperienced drivers of any age. That's what prompted the gov't here in Ontario to change the licensing rules some time ago so that after your probationary period (the first 2-5 years that you have your license) you have to take a second road test, where they basically test how experienced you are (based on how you handle the car, etc.) to get your full license. The problem was in the past that many teens simply didn't drive during their probation period (many didn't have access to a car, for instance) and then they got their full unrestricted license with basically no driving experience whatsoever. They've now plugged that loophole and it is pretty much impossible to pass the second test without lots of driving experience.
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Actually, numerous studies have shown that teen drivers are no worse than inexperienced drivers of any age.
If the studies are numerous, why are the citations nonexistent?
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The difference is teens are much more shithead-like than 20-somethings (not that I haven't noticed the increasing prevalence of 20-something shitheads), and teens are often not held responsible (legally or financially) for their actions (further enabling shithead behavior).
It's a vicious cycle where the more sheltered and unprepared for adulthood they get, the longer you want to wait to give them the freedom and responsibilities needed to grow the f*ck up. And yes, a car is often an enabler for a lot of other activities that are helpful in that respect. Just after WWII we had boys as young as 14 sign on to go to sea for months at a time with no mom or dad to look after them. They grew up, fast. Maybe not the best idea today since you'd want an education, but for example this
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This has less to do with "shit head 20 somethings" then the modern trajectory of keeping tabs on your children in any and all circumstance. Compare the ideas presented in this story with the recent stories of parents getting Child Protective Services called on them for letting their children walk home unattended. This is just an extension to the idea that children (or young adults) can't be trusted to act properly on their own, and must be under parental--or failing that, state--surveillance at all times.
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It's people like you who create the oppressive dystopia the future generation will have to clean up after.
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Same feelings here.
I would have hated it, but in 5 years my oldest is getting something like this.
I went ape shit when I got my first car, quite literally trying to emulate Dukes of Hazard(Filmed in my hometown BTW). Most all of us have some regret on their youth, but I am very lucky to be alive.
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Thought about it a little bit more and decided to dig up a clip, I was in the Hazzard County Square on Tuesday.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
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Well consider yourself lucky to be among one of the last generations who got to experience even a slight amount of freedom from parental, and State supervision. This technology has less to do with easing parents minds, than providing the security services a convenient "in" for the complete surveillance of everyone's movement. Do you really think the tracking turns "off" when you're driving?
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As opposed to serial psychopathy, where parents believe their children should never have adult supervision of any kind, and are just turned loose on society as wild animals to be put down when they get caught?
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The only way to learn to drive is to drive.
I can see this tech being useful for elderly drivers, the chronically ill or disabled. It is not always easy to see clearly when someone you care for needs to surrender their license.
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The only way to learn to drive is to drive.
I agree - and this technology will give more parents the peace of mind to hand over the keys to their kids. I only see good coming from this.
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I agree - and this technology will give more parents the peace of mind to hand over the keys to their kids. I only see good coming from this.
While simultaneously wresting any sense of agency from them. How perfectly modern.
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Not letting your shithead teens on the fucking road in the first place?
Not letting them on the road seems a little extreme but do they have to have a brand new car? What happened to having a beater to putt around in for the first few years?
Doesn't matter (Score:2)
Not letting them on the road seems a little extreme but do they have to have a brand new car? What happened to having a beater to putt around in for the first few years?
What does it matter to you? Sure I drove a beater like most of us but if a parent puts their kid in a new(er) car, there is nothing fundamentally wrong with that unless the kid develops an entitlement complex from it. If the money isn't an issue to them it really shouldn't matter to us either.
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Not letting them on the road seems a little extreme but do they have to have a brand new car? What happened to having a beater to putt around in for the first few years?
What does it matter to you? Sure I drove a beater like most of us but if a parent puts their kid in a new(er) car, there is nothing fundamentally wrong with that unless the kid develops an entitlement complex from it. If the money isn't an issue to them it really shouldn't matter to us either.
Getting a shiny new car for your first car is typically a symptom of being a spoiled brat.
(And yes, if the parents can afford a shiny new car to give their kid as their first car, they're likely very well off and thus the kid is likely a spoiled brat.)
Spoiled brats don't have to deal with consequences. Spoiled brats will drive like assholes. A shiny new car enforces this mentality, and it encourages driving with friends and doing stupid shit.
Have you ever even met a teenager?
Re:Doesn't matter (Score:4, Informative)
My first car was a piece of shit and I still drove it like I stole it. And if my parents had a technology like this one, I'd have had to explain to them how to set it up.
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Getting a shiny new car for your first car is typically a symptom of being a spoiled brat.
No it doesn't. I know that the first years of driving are the ones you are most at risk. Having come very close to being a blood splat more than a few times I will be aiming to buy my kids as close to a new car as possible because the safety is higher and the service history is more known. A new car doesn't equal a fast car. I would rather that my daughters are driving a new sedan like a Camry than a 15 year old version of the same car.
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What does it matter to you?
Nothing until they are out for a joyride in their brand new sports car and they loose control due to carelessness and wreck my car / destroy my property / hit me while I am walking down the road.
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and that changes by driving a new car vs an old one... how exactly??
The new car has ABS, anti-skid technology, lane control, auto-braking collision detection, airbags, auto-tensioning seat belts, and a dash cam. So it is less likely to be in an accident, and less likely to cause an injury if it is.
Re:How About (Score:4, Informative)
Not letting your shithead teens on the fucking road in the first place?
Not letting them on the road seems a little extreme but do they have to have a brand new car? What happened to having a beater to putt around in for the first few years?
Ford Mykey has been around since MY 2010 or so. Limits radio volume, won't allow radio to play if seatbelts not fastened, speed limit at 130km/h (highest speed limit in NA), and speed reminder settable at a lower speed. The telemetry function is new.
As far as driving new cars... eventually these cars will end up being used cars, and as well in many cases they may be sharing the family car.
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They got greedy, and the spineless, scrupleless generation of "parents" caved.
Billy gets an F in 6th grade English and still gets a new XBOX with the latest Call of Duty.
Tammy gets knocked up at 14 and still gets a new iPhone with the latest apps.
Chris is caught using drugs behind the school and still gets a new car that the parents can't really afford.
Re:How About (Score:5, Funny)
Ah, yes, Billy, Tammy and Chris. I think their last name is "Strawman".
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As far as I can tell, you've presented three scenarios of young adults who, at worst, need some form of help from the more mature people responsible for their care, but you've also portrayed them as somehow deserving of either irrelevant punishment or bribery. Should Billy be punished for poor performance in school, or helped to understand and appreciate his education? The worst case for Tammy's judgment is that she did not understand the consequences of actions she otherwise engaged consensually, should sh
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Who says that this car necessarily belongs to the teenage driver? It may belong to the parent, and they just give the kids their own keys which activate these features. I didn't own a car for the first several years that I was driving, and just borrowed one of my parents' vehicles (a Honda Civic stickshift or an old full-sized Ford van). If I had a teenager about to start driving and wanted a new car for the family, this would be an attractive feature for when they started borrowing the car.
Also, people
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45 seconds? But I want it now!
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Not letting them on the road seems a little extreme but do they have to have a brand new car? What happened to having a beater to putt around in for the first few years?
Giving them an old beater doesn't really solve the problem from the standpoint of the rest of society. A jackass driving a car from 1996 can do just as much damage to pedestrians, cyclists, other cars, and other people as he could driving a car from 2016.
Heck, the 1996 vehicle may encourage more reckless behavior (because the jackass driving doesn't care about the car, and isn't afraid of a few scratches and dents). The 1996 vehicle may be more likely to be involved in a collision even if driven the sam
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I agree on this. set up a simulated cockpit and fire an airbag in their face. The little shits need to know that car accidents hurt.
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Amen! I had to build or buy my first car. Actually built. I bought a VW bus without an engine, then found an engine.
Rode motorcycle from age 8 so I did the motorcycle thing from 16 to 18 then wanted to build a franken bus.
Re:Bicycles don't tell on you (Score:4, Funny)
Far as I can tell, everyone who bikes in Seattle is constantly having sex. Even while cycling.