You left out a lot of information. I'm assuming the car is a manual transmission? The truck I bought new in 1990 was the same. It is hardly new technology. There ignition circuit runs through switch on the clutch which prevents that engine from starting unless the switch is closed (clutch is depressed). http://www.tpub.com/content/construction/14273/css/14273_139.htm

It's a safety thing, so the car doesn't hop forward or backward when you try to start it in gear (which you could do accidentally). Some cars with automatic transmissions won't let you move the shift lever unless the brake pedal is being depressed.

It really isn't new technology,it has been a standard for as many years as I can remember driving a stick(That would be,,ummm,,, MANY MANY YEARS)

The technology has been around for a while for either depressing the clutch or starting in neutral. Recently a new design has been placed in automobiles that starting in neutral is no longer an option and you must depress the clutch to start the automobile. This is a safety feature still new and has not become standardized yet. The reason why your not getting good sound information is because it is still at it's beta stage and looking to see if this is a good or bad idea. The reason this was put into the works is because of accidents of young children starting automobiles while playing in cars and hitting the gear shift just right to throw the auto in gear.

Many people leave clutch-driven cars "in gear" to help keep the car from rolling. (In Neutral, the wheels are free to roll, unless the parking brake is on, and there are many level places that people just don't use them. Therefore, if the engine turns over, the car will lurch. There have been plenty of cases where people (of all ages) just got in their manual shift car and started it, making it jump (in reverse or first gear), hitting either someone, or something (a car parked nearby, a pole, etc. For automatics, even with the car only starting in Park or Neutral, most will required the brake to be depressed to shift into drive. This is the first I've heard of the clutch thing, but it makes sense in much the same way. These are "safety features", designed to keep people from accidentally causing accidents. You have to remember that manufacturers have to design things like this into everything, because not everyone seems to have the intelligence to BE safe with things. (Even intelligent people have bad days when they forget even small things they do all the time.) And vehicles are hundreds of pounds of metal that will do massive damage to 30-350 pound people if they move even a little, without even being on.