By Kevin Harrison
GM has been working away on making its next generation Chevy Malibu more competitive. One thing that will definitely set it apart is the ability to keep a Big Brother-esque eye on your teenage drivers.
The new system dubbed “teen driver” enables parents to have configurable control over their new Malibu, allowing them to monitor their teenagers’ driving habits.
The system can download a report card to parents once their awkward spawn returns from their night out. The system will tattle by alerting parents to excessive speeds, distance driven, where the vehicle traveled, and if the car’s safety alerts were activated.
The system also prevents some features from disabled such as the traction control (which could prevent burnouts) and stability control (which could prevent donuts). It also prevents driver aids from being disabled such as parking assist, blind traffic alerts and the automatic headlights.
The system will also sound an audible alert if the teenager exceeds the allowable speeds set by the parents.
The way it works is the system will recognize when a teenager is behind the wheel when the parents program a special PIN into their teenager’s key fobs. Once the teenager gets into the car, the system will automatically recognize it as a teenager being behind the wheel.
The 2016 Chevy Malibu will make its official debut on April 1st (and no, it’s not likely to be an April Fools joke) and will go on sale in late 2015.
What do you think of this new technology to control teenage drivers? Sound off in the comments below.
