Hmmm they sell you a car with 444 horsepower, but you have to pay extra to use all 444 horses by buying a special key that allows the engine to hit full power. The good news is you don't have to buy it like you have to buy all the silly government programs that are forced on you.

Source

Ignition keys make Mustang road-mannered or rip-roaring

By Chris Woodyard, USA TODAY

Ford Motor is announcing today that its next Mustang Boss 302 can be ordered with two ignition keys that give the car a split personality: one sweet and mannered for the street, the other rip-roaringly ugly for raceways.

The specially programmed pair of keys represent a new tack in the industry for special-purpose keys. Previous offerings have included one to hand to valets that won't open the trunk, or one that can be programmed to limit maximum speed and stereo volume when a teen takes out the family car.

But this second key — colored red, of course — is the first to amp up performance for racing.

The development shows how sophisticated computer software controlling all functions of a car — engine, transmission, brakes and more — is creating new possibilities for the industry. In this case, the two keys give the Boss a Jekyll/Hyde persona.

"It's a testament to ... leveraging the technology to give enthusiasts what they want in these cars," says Mustang's chief engineer, Dave Pericak.

The two-key technology being offered is the latest iteration of special-edition Mustangs, the 2012 Boss 302 that will come to showrooms next spring. The Boss won't come from the factory with the second key; buyers have to order the key from the Ford dealer and have the extra programming flashed into the engine computer's memory.

Pricing for the 444-horsepower pony car and for the new key haven't been disclosed.

TracKey, as it will be called, has an embedded chip that resets the car's computer. Insertion of the red key changes 200 engine settings to make the car more competitive on a racetrack. For example, Pericak says, the car will respond instantly to hard acceleration and deliver more low-end torque, and the engine will rumble when idling. The track setting "leaves refinement at the door," he says.

The racing calibration of the engine still will comply with emissions laws, and Pericak says it's possible some drivers may want to cruise around town in the red-key race setting instead of using the mild-mannered black key.

Steven McCarley, president of the 13,500-member Mustang Club of America, says he's excited about the second key. He says he's on the Boss 302's order list.

He says the new key will reduce steps he takes to get his Mustangs ready to race, such as changing the engine timing. Now, "you don't have to do any of that. Just put the key in and turn the ignition," McCarley says.