Ford has taken the liberty of installing a handy-dandy, possibly life-saving feature in all its new (and some of its old) vehicles -- a feature that can read your text messages out loud to you. So you don't have to, you know, drive with your knee while you text and increase your chances of being involved in a devastating, fiery crash. Isn't that nice of them?
The anti-texting feature is part of Ford’s voice-activated technology, Sync, which is already built into all 2012 Ford vehicles (except for the Ranger). The way it works is it uses a Bluetooth connection to sync with cellphones. Then it alerts users/drivers when they receive text messages, reads them aloud, and allows users/drivers to respond with a selection of standard pre-written messages. All without ever having to take your hands off the wheel.
I know what my kids will be driving when they're teenagers. If I decide to ever let them out of the house.
If you're really fancy-shmancy and tech-savvy, then you may be thinking right now, "Why would I need this in my car when my fancy-shmancy, tech-savvy phone already has speech recognition for text messages?" Well, congratulations if it does -- and congratulations if you use it! But the majority of people don't have this feature for their cellphones -- and very few of them can do all of this totally hands-free. So, Ford Sync wins. It's genius. And it's shocking that it's only coming out now. There are far too many accidents and deaths because of people texting and driving.
This feature makes me feel a little bit better about having teenagers who will eventually -- gulp -- drive one day. Not much. But a little.
Would you like this feature in your car?
Image via OregonDOT/Flickr
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Comments 5
I love Ford. I have an 08, but I'm excited to upgrade in the future.
this would drive me absolutely bat-snot crazy. When I drive, the phone goes into my purse or pocket and stays there. If I'm expecting a call, or if the ringtone is one I recognize (like my husband), I'll use my earpiece. Texts can wait. Sorry, that's kinda the point of a text, isn't it? You send a notice to be received 'whenever', you don't expect an immediate answer. For that, you make a call.
And as for this being a great thing for teens? Ah, no. My kid is only eight, but he's already learning that you DO NOT TEXT. PERIOD. when you're driving. And you RARELY use the phone, if ever. All of that stuff can wait.
I love Ford, but sorry, this is one feature that isn't going to make me choose their vehicle over a competitor's.
As an aside, I really wish they'd make all features on all phones work "out loud". My husband is blind, and it is insanely difficult to find a phone that he can use with a carrier that works around our house.