New Ford Fiesta review (2013) – Hands on

PARENTAL CONTROLS
With research suggesting 51% of accidents involving young drivers are caused by speeding, Ford has tried to make the Fiesta a safer car for learners and the newly qualified. Ford knows that the Supermini car class has proven incredibly popular with parents of young drivers, which is why the new MyKey system will debut with the new Fiesta. It’s an extra level of control aimed at parents who don’t want to hand over the keys to the powerful family saloon and want to keep a watchful eye on their children’s driving.

As well as a single master key for the car’s owner, Fiesta owners can buy up to eight extra MyKeys per car to give to their children. Once programmed, several safety measures will be automatically enabled when one is used to start the engine. Several are permanent, including Belt Minder – an audible warning that mutes the car stereo until all passengers have fastened their seat belt. Audible warnings are nothing new, but by muting the stereo young drivers are particularly likely to pay attention.

The low fuel warning indicator will also kick in 1.5 times earlier than it would with the master key, giving young drivers plenty of time to look for a petrol station. Finally, speed warnings are customisable from 45mph upwards, letting parents flash messages onto the dashboard when their children exceed a certain speed. An audible warning sounds until the car’s speed reduces.

Perhaps more important are the optional safety measures, which can be toggled on and off using the master key. Parents can set the car’s maximum speed, in order to prevent reckless driving and speeding fines. For the UK, the lowest setting is 80mph – we asked Ford why the limit couldn’t be set any lower, to discourage motorway driving, but were told that safety should be paramount and there must always be enough room to safely overtake on any UK road in order to conform to certain regulations. In practice, putting your foot flat to the floor when approaching 80 will see the engine back off, slowing down and refusing to go higher when the system is engaged.

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It can’t stop you speeding, but warnings will persist until the car decelerates

Secondly, the Audio Limit lets parents limit the stereo system to 45% of its maximum volume. When asked why this percentage was chosen, a Ford representative told us tests had proven 45% was the loudest that drivers could still hear approaching emergency service vehicles and react appropriately. During our test drive, 45% still sounded very loud, but we admittedly could hear the sirens of an approaching ambulance.

Available for both standard keys and keyless ignition Fiestas, MyKey will hopefully ease the minds of worried parents. One thing to remember is that the master key will always take precedent over any MyKeys also in the car – this is only a problem for keyless ignition models, but still worth keeping in mind when asking your kids to pick you up from the pub.

DON’T GET TOO CLOSE
Keeping drivers safe on the road is always a huge priority for car makers, and here we’re seeing technologies previously seen on larger cars have trickling their way down. We’re familiar with some already – hill start assist and radar-assisted reverse parking have been available for some time. Others, such as auto city stop, have only just reached the Fiesta range after making a debut on the Focus two years ago.

Each new Fiesta is fitted with 7 airbags as standard, but they can’t protect you from low-speed collisions. This is where Active City Stop comes into play – it begins by pre-charging the brakes, to shorten the stopping distance should you need to hit them quickly. Using a forward-facing infra-red laser mounted next to the rear-view mirror, it scans the distance to an approaching reflective object. If the car senses that you’re getting too close and will have an accident, it hits the brakes for you.

Ford says the system will completely stop a car travelling at speeds less than 10MPH, and significantly slow the car down between 10MPH and 20MPH, reducing damage. It can’t operate at speeds above 20MPH because the laser only scans around 12 meters in front of the car, and will only react to objects large enough to bounce the beam back to the car – meaning it won’t stop should a child run into the road, but it will stop you hitting the bumper of the car in front when sat in traffic.

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Active City Stop – great for keeping this dent-free

Deliberately driving at a wall can be a little unnerving, even if that wall happens to be made from foam blocks, but we are happy to report the system works perfectly on the new Fiesta. The brakes are applied sharply, bringing the car to a rapid stop, but we didn’t feel any discomfort because of the slow speeds involved.

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