New Safety Report Creates List Of Best Used Cars For Teens
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Buying a car for a teen driver can be difficult. Parents often look for used vehicles but worry about safety. A new report offers choices for a variety of budgets.
Sixteen and 17 year olds are three times more likely than adults to be involved in a deadly crash, according to AAA.
Safety advocates say that's why teens need a vehicle with technology that can help prevent a crash or survive one.
"It's really critical for parents to think about, 'How much safety can I afford?'" says David Harkey, the president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
The IIHS teamed up with Consumer Reports to create a list of used cars for teen drivers. A total of 43 vehicles are considered the best choices and range in price from $7,000 to almost $20,000. All come with stability control, perform well in crash tests, and received high marks for reliability. Asian brands dominate the list. Honda, Hyundai, Mazda, Subaru, and Toyota each had five models make the grade.
"Hopefully what we have done is given parents a really solid, comprehensive source of information that will serve as a starting point to help purchase a really good vehicle for their teen driver," says Harkey.
Harkey says buying a car isn't enough. Parents also need to teach their children the rules of the road.
"What to do, what not to do, and emphasize, most importantly, the need to buckle up, the need to not speed, and the need to not be on any sort of electronic device," he says.
That can help prevent a crash in any type of car.
The group also has a second list of what it calls Good Choices that includes older vehicles starting at $5,000. Those cars didn't perform as well as those that made the Best list.
