I just bought a bass tracker boat with a 40hp. As I used it I noticed that the throttle/siftlever would slowly reduce speed unless I held my hand on it. Anyone else heard/seen this happen. Dealer says it's a safety feature but I don't know or have ever heard of this. If it is, the da-- govt is at it again.

On the older models there was a tension knob.

Good safety option, helps stop runway boats.

My Xpress did this. There is a tension screw on the throttle assembly. Tightened it a little bit and it will hold position now. You might look around on yours, I'm betting Merc controls have the same feature somewhere.

The kill switch should stop a runaway in the event the driver no longer retains control, provided the lanyard is attached to the driver.

Never heard of such...But it sounds like a good thing off the top of my head.

Disagree. This would prevent one from having both hands on the steering wheel. Could also present a danger when running in rough water. Kill swithces stop runaway boats.

Drove a friends Ranger that did that, hate it.

I do not think this is anything new. My 1985 Merc control has 2 adjustments. One is throttle detent - controls how much lever movement to engage in gear and the other is throttle friction - . Throttle friction is what the OP is referring to. Less friction and the throttle handle will slowly return to the idle postition. Mine was set from the factory so it would return. I have left it that way becuase My boat is easy to drive with one hand.

I'll concur with it not being safer, on my rig anyway. See, mine is a center console, and there's nowhere to rest your arm while holding ono the throttle lever. So in rough water, you cannot hold the lever in one particular position. hit a big wave, and you might gouge on the throttle unintentionally. So yes, on my rig, I want the throttle to stay where I put it so I can use both hands to steer, or one to hold the grab bar while steering with the other one.

I could see how a bass boater might see this differently tho, since there is a positive place to rest/anchor your arm while driving.

Yep! If you don't have two hands free a lot of things can happen......most of them bad!

The key, as stated above, is attach the kill switch!
The boat sales guy is a fool, to be nice. Where is my BS flag?

Trust me there is a friction in there somewhere.

Just remembered an incident that happened to me on my sons new pathfinder in Sabine pass the other day. I was driving and he was behind the throttle. a large CC cutter was coming in fast I headed for the wake and an held the wheel with both hands and told my son to watch the throttle. He hasn't adjusted his friction yet. He did not understand what was happening and just watched and held the throttle where it was... We went airborne over the second wave. I didn't let go of the wheel and we were ok but it scared the bejeesus out of him. He has a different perspective of what "watch the throttle" means now.

Sounds exactly like something a salesman at BPS would say. Adjust your throttle lever so it stays where you put it, and make speed corrections as needed. The only guys that need one hand on the throttle are driving race boats not fishing boats. As stated above....your kill switch is what your motor emergency speed/kill is for.

It's not the first time someone got questionable information from Tracker. I had a guy tell me that my boat leaking water was normal because boats leak. Are you kidding me?

Yep, BS from BPS!!!

That should have tipped you off that the guy was an idiot. How would slowly reducing speed be a safety measure? Maybe if you were on an ocean.

+1 Have to agree with Fouzman. Both hands on the wheel for control and kill switch for safety!!