Chevy rolls out new feature that locks teens out of driving until they buckle up

Driving for teens is about to get more annoying, and hopefully more safe

Chevrolet introduced a new feature designed to force younger drivers to buckle their seatbelts. Teens are notorious seatbelt scofflaws: in 2017, only 59 percent of high school students reported always wearing seat belts when driving or riding in the front passenger seat, according to the CDC. Chevy’s new feature will actively prevent teens from driving until they fasten their seatbelts.

The new “Buckle to Drive” feature will come standard on all 2020 Chevy Traverse, Malibu, and Colorado vehicles. It works by programing a key fob so that the “teen driver” setting is on by default. That way, when your teen uses their key to start the car, the seatbelt will need to be clicked in order to unlock the gear shift. Moreover, the radio will also stay muted until the seatbelt is fastened. The idea is to basically annoy your teen with little inconveniences until they buckle their seatbelt.

THE IDEA IS TO BASICALLY ANNOY YOUR TEEN WITH LITTLE INCONVENIENCES UNTIL THEY BUCKLE THEIR SEATBELT

This isn’t totally new for Chevy. The automaker first introduced its a safe driving incentive and monitoring program called Teen Driver in the 2016 Malibu. When engaged, Teen Driver silences the stereo system until both driver and passenger seatbelts are fastened, and automatically enables safety measures such as Stability Control, Traction Control, Forward Collision Braking, and Front Pedestrian Braking. Using a configurable PIN code, parents also have the ability to set a maximum stereo volume limit and an over-speed warning alert anywhere from 40 mph to 75 mph — each time the driver exceeds that speed, the system pings an alarm and registers the infraction.

Now that suite of features includes this latest update, “Buckle to Drive.” According to Tricia Morrow, safety strategy engineer at Chevy parent company General Motors, the automaker has been testing it on fleet customers for the past several years, but also recently gave it to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety for testing. The institute found that when compared to audible seatbelt reminders found in most cars, Chevy’s Buckle to Drive feature was 16 percent more effective in getting drivers to buckle up, Morrow said.

“We have been researching this system for quite some time,” said Morrow, while sitting in the driver seat of a Chevy Traverse on a recent sunny afternoon. “So we found this feature that works, and a group of people who could really benefit from it.”

THOSE “PEOPLE” ARE NOTORIOUSLY UNSAFE DRIVERS

Those “people” are notoriously unsafe drivers. In addition to being less likely to use seatbelts, teen drivers are also more likely than adult drivers to underestimate dangerous situations, fail to recognize hazardous scenarios, and make critical errors that lead to crashes, according to the CDC. Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for teenagers in the US, and a higher rate of seatbelt use could help drive that number down.

Of course, adult drivers are not that much better. An estimated 35,000 to 40,000 people die in auto wrecks every year. While most people do use seatbelts — 86 percent of drivers and front seat passengers, according to the CDC — millions still do not.

Asked if this was a feature Chevy or GM would make standard for all drivers, Morrow said it’s under consideration. “It’s our first implementation,” she said. “We can’t speak to future products. But you know, it’s something that could be useful to all drivers, for sure. Because obviously, everyone should wear a seatbelt.”

There are workarounds, of course, especially if your teen is fully committed to a non-conformist, death-defying, seatbelt-free lifestyle. The driver need only wait 20 seconds before the gear shift unlocks to allow for driving. But Chevy hopes that this new feature will help teens think twice about seatbelts, while giving parents a little peace of mind about their kids driving.

Chevy’s “teen driver” mode also provides parents with a “report card” with information about their teens’ driving habits. That includes the number of times the driver exceeded the speed limit or set off the forward collision alert. But it’s not all about snitching on your kid; the report card can also be used by teenagers to show how their driving has improved.

There are some after-market devices that do this already: Verizon’s Hum enables geofencing and speed alerts. But Chevy hopes that by making it a standard feature across all of its major brands, it can spur other automakers to step up their game as well.

Source: Andrew J. Hawkins | @andyjayhawk (The Verge).

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