Verizon will soon be rolling out the newest version of Hum, their aftermarket connected car add-on that gives almost any car – even your teen’s beat-up old sedan – capabilities like speakerphone, emergency service buttons, stolen vehicle tracking, and even “check engine” light remote diagnosis. But it’s the fresh version of Hum that’s pleasing parents and bumming out teens. The updated tattling device will enable geofencing and speed alert features. And that means, simply enough, that mom and dad will know when their teen has left a designated area or driven faster than a certain speed.

Let Your Teen’s Car Hum

The Hum system includes a module that plugs into a car’s OBD port (an on-board diagnostics port that should be in every car manufactured after 1996) as well as a hands-free unit that you can clip to your visor. In tandem with a smartphone app, the Hum service does as it did before – monitors the health of your vehicle, offers roadside assistance, helps you find your car in a parking lot, and so on. The exciting new driving log feature measures travel times, engine idle times, and average speeds.

So what does this mean for parents? The location tracking upgrade, which is an expansion of the original stolen vehicle tracking offering, enables parents to know exactly where their teen is. And if you know where your teen is supposed to be driving to – whether it’s from school to job or job to home or girlfriend’s house to the movie theater – you also know how long it takes to get to these destinations and the speed limits in between. You can assure your teen driver that, if a cop doesn’t tag him or her for speeding, you certainly will.

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The Benefits of Connected Car Technology

Connected car technology might seem excessive to some people – about as excessive as car phones were back in the day – but in a world where people are attached to their handheld devices 24/7, especially teenagers, parents need a way to monitor what’s happening when their child is behind the wheel.

There are a number of apps that were designed to help prevent teens from texting while driving, and to give their parents intel into their behavior while operating a motor vehicle. Of course, teens are smart, and they could just turn off any app – like Hum – if they didn’t want it to “tattle” on them. Some apps, however, are linked with a parent’s phone and a notification will be sent to the parent if the teen turns the monitoring app off.

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Teen Driving in a Wired World

Ultimately, you want to prevent your teen from being involved in an auto accident, and you especially wouldn’t want them to be the one who causes an accident because of distracted driving. It’s important for parents to set a good example for teens – use apps and devices like Hum yourself, be accountable. Let your teen see you putting the smartphone in the glove box or in the trunk before you drive so that you can’t even be tempted to access it.

If you or your teen have been involved in an auto accident, contact David Femminineo today to discuss your case.

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