You are referring in your question to a safety device called the brake-shift interlock, which is designed to prevent the car from being put into a forward gear before the driver has his foot on the brake. The way this system works is that a brake by wire system is integrated with a brake transmission solenoid interlock (BTSI) unit to prevent a vehicle transmission from being shifted out of a park mode into a drive mode until a brake system operational state is determined.

The BTSI is activated by a supplemental control unit, which generates a transmission release signal generated by a controller in response to simultaneous presence of a brake intent signal from one or more brake pedal sensors and a determination of an operational state of the brake system. The supplemental control unit includes a switch responsive to the transmission release signal to close the BTSI activating circuit and permit release of the transmission.

In basic terms this technology has been put in place to prevent vehicles from inadvertently being put into gear by children or anyone else when the vehicle is in the “Park” position. The Brake Transmission Shift Interlock is an essential safety technology that requires depressing the brake pedal to move the gear shift out of park. Since children typically cannot reach the brake pedal, if BTSI is in place, they cannot place the car into gear by themselves.

According to NHTSA, approximately 80% of 2006 motor vehicles are equipped with an automatic transmission control system designed in accordance with the requirements of this agreement. More than 98% of 2009 motor vehicles to be produced are forecasted to be equipped with an automatic transmission control system designed in accordance with an agreement put in place with automakers. This agreement is that both domestic and foreign have agreed to voluntarily install BTSI in all their vehicles by 2010.

It appears you are asking if a senior or elderly driver that is insuring a car with a BTSI system would receive a discount for having this feature on their car. Insurance companies rating systems differ so it could be possible that a car with BTSI may have lower rates than a car without this system in place however in general this is not a safety feature that auto insurance companies offer a discount for being part of the car.

For example the insurance carriers we work with can give you an auto insurance discount if your car features safety features such as automatic seat belts, air bags, and similar safety equipment that would make your injuries less severe if you were in an accident. Other features discounts are given for are alarm systems, protective steering column devices, as well as other anti-theft or recovery systems. Most of our auto insurance discounts for safety equipment are applied automatically.

While having BTSI as a feature on your car may or may not mean that your insurance company will offer you a discount it is smart to pick a car with such a feature, and soon all cars should be made with the BTSI system in place. The BTSI system has been shown to help to curb accidents caused by children or adults getting a car out of park and into drive or reverse when they should not be operating a vehicle so it is a good feature to have on your car. When getting insurance always ask about any discounts that may be available to you, and you can always mentioned this feature to see if it saves you any money on auto insurance.

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