But would YOU buy it?

Just read an online news article about Ford's latest option on it's cars/SUVs sold in Europe....an adjustable speed limiter. Ford has found there is a sizeable customer desire for a driver setable(sp?) speed limiter and is reporting decent sales to new owners of Mondeos, Kugas (very similar in size/design to an Escape), and the S-Max (which we don't get here...YET).

What do folks here think? Instead of a radar detector, would you pay for a button that works somewhat like cruise control...yet (apparently?) doesn't let you override the speed until you re-set it? I mean, in cars that have cruise, if you need a bit more speed, you just press on the gas. With a speed limiter, once you hit the "top" speed, pressing on the gas is pointless...until you turn off the limiter.

No.

No.

99.9% of new cars = complete crap in some way. This option just compounds the problem.

Yes, I can see multiple uses for this.

Yep, I would, in about 15 years.

I could see it in fleet sales, or concerned parents.

When my son starts driving in about 8 years, you can bet your sweet ass I would want one of these. I can't think of any time I needed to drive more than 75 MPH (on the street), but I can think of several times that I've stupidly done so.

Nope. We should pay more attention to your speed/driving, not less. Another nanny ontop of a pile of them that reduces general awareness and increases accidents.

So whats the over/under on how long before this is federally mandated?

Every car built has an adjustable speed limiter. It is called the throttle.

Another gimmick. I don't like the part about not being able to over ride it. That reduces car control and that is not good.

My Garmin has the ability to tell me the speed limit on the road I am driving on. It knows the speed limit on the roads and the display of my actual speed goes red if I am over the posted limit. I have become very dependant on this to know what the posted speed limit is. To the point that I was driving with out it the other day and it really bothered me. It really does keep me aware of my speed and it has reduced my "accidental" speeding substantially. What it is great for are those places where it goes from 45 to 30 or even 25 and then back to 45 for no apparent reason in less than an 1/8th of a mile? I wish it had an audible beep / alarm that would sound 1 or 2x when you go over the limit.

The only use i can see for this is for lending your car out, or for young drivers.

So im basically against it. The only upside for me would be that if all the cars i own had adjustable limiters right now, it would be EASIER to get several of them past 120.

One time i had a car with a 105 limiter that drove me crazy. I had another version of the same car with a rare no-limiter pcm and hit 130+. If they had come with adjustable limiters i would have set them both to over 9000. But i'd be just as happy if they didnt have any limiter at all.

I drove an old U-Hall truck with a limiter set at 55. Drove me nuts.

integraguy wrote: Just read an online news article about Ford's latest option on it's cars/SUVs sold in Europe....an adjustable speed limiter. Ford has found there is a sizeable customer desire for a driver setable(sp?) speed limiter and is reporting decent sales to new owners of Mondeos, Kugas (very similar in size/design to an Escape), and the S-Max (which we don't get here...YET). What do folks here think? Instead of a radar detector, would you pay for a button that works somewhat like cruise control...yet (apparently?) doesn't let you override the speed until you re-set it? I mean, in cars that have cruise, if you need a bit more speed, you just press on the gas. With a speed limiter, once you hit the "top" speed, pressing on the gas is pointless...until you turn off the limiter.

Doesn't BMW have this on the 5 and 7? I remember setting an alert then is limited itself. I think it would be a great option for a car I would by my kid. As long as it was locakable (never mind my kids would defeat that too)

My brain talks to my right foot. That's my speed limiter.

I know the 2000+ Saab 9-5's had the option to set a speed alarm but anything beyond that hell no.

I'm pretty sure we had a Buick in the 60's that had a buzzer hooked up to an adjustable needle on the speedo. I would accept a noise as I was trying to finish an ill advised pass on a semi trailer on a narrow road...

I once drove a Saab 9-3 that didn't have a speed limiter, only a really annoying alarm that went off whenever I exceeded 60 mph. Took me 5 minutes and nearly 4 crashes to find it buried in the menu of the stupid radio/navigation interface. Really safe.

I would take a warning... but unless I had kids that were driving, I would not want it.

All of my speeding tickets have been for speeds under 50mph.. usually 40 in a 25 because the limit dropped and I was not paying enough attention

I thought grey hair Buicks already had them

i don't know about you guys but i've been in situations where i've had to put my foot down to get to a safe spot on the road. like when a semi decides to put his signal on and start changing lanes into you when you are right next to the cab.

I think the option on Ford is linked to part of the MyKey settings. So yea you could give your kid a set of keys, and set a max speed limit, and only on his set of keys.. MyKey also logs how many miles are driven on a set of keys. You have to enable MyKey to do all this, bit the option is there.

We have it on my wifes car, but its not set up. I kind of want to, if only to see what the options are.

I can see why people especially in the UK would buy something like this. In the UK, you have speed camera systems that measure your average speed over long distances (like roadworks that are 5-10 miles long). Radar detectors - which for the most part aren't legal in large parts of Europe anyway - don't help in that type of situation. Heck, in France it's illegal to have known speed camera locations on your GPS.

In contrast to the US where you pretty much only have the local police forces or highway patrol enforcing the speed limits, a lot of this is automated in Europe via cameras. Especially in the UK, the government seemed to like cameras because they removed human judgement (plus they work 24/7).

However I probably wouldn't be buying a car with a settable limiter.

Yes. Yes, I would. I'd set it to this: Then I could time travel, create unknown elements, you know, cool E36 M3.

I'd really like a warning when I'm approaching a speed limit change. Not all speed limit decreases are logical, and not all are clearly posted. Knowing that the limit drops by 20MPH in a quarter mile would be nice.

i think of 2 words when i read about stuff like this..

feature creep.

it's an option now, and people will get used to it.. then eventually it becomes standard equipment.. then eventually it becomes non adjustable and no one will ever be able to speed and we will all be immortal.