Does Your Teenager Drive a Safe Car?

Teenagers with new licenses want to drive as much as possible – while parents can’t help worrying about car accidents. What’s the safest kind of vehicle for a teenager who will be driving without your supervision for the first time?

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the Insurance Information Institute say parents can help protect their teens by choosing a safe car. Summarized below is the information the institutes presented in a press release dated September 21, 1999.

Accident statistics show that the first years teenagers spend as drivers are the riskiest. In 1997 alone, more than 5,700 teenagers died in motor vehicle crashes - the highest death rate of any age group – and many more suffered permanent, severe injuries. Teenagers should drive vehicles that reduce their chances of a crash and offer state-of-the-art protection in case they do crash.

Immature behavior, such as speeding and reckless driving, can exacerbate teens’ lack of experience. They may drive cautiously when mom or dad is in the car. However, bad driving often becomes the norm when they're on their own or with other teens. Keep this in mind when choosing the vehicle your teen will drive. Avoid vehicles with images that encourage reckless driving.

Sports cars and other vehicles with performance features, such as turbocharging, are likely to encourage speeding. A vehicle with a more sedate image reduces the chances your teen will be in a speed-related crash.

Don't let your teen drive an unstable vehicle. Sport utility vehicles, especially the smaller ones, are inherently less stable than cars because of their high center of gravity. Abrupt steering maneuvers — the kind that can occur when teens are fooling around or over-correcting a driver error — can cause rollovers that, in more stable cars, would be skids or spinouts at worst.

Even if your teenager drives a safe car with a sedate image, chances of an accident are still high. This is why a vehicle that offers good crash protection is so important.

Small vehicles offer much less protection in crashes than larger ones. However, this doesn't mean you should put your child in the largest vehicle you can find. Many mid- and full-size cars offer more than adequate crash protection. Check out the safety ratings for mid-size and larger cars.

Most of today's cars are better designed for crash protection than cars of 6 to 10 years ago, so it’s recommended to avoid older vehicles. For example, a newer mid-size car with airbags would be a better choice than an older, larger car without airbags. Before you make a final choice on the car your teenager will drive, take advantage of the wealth of consumer information available on car safety from the U.S. Department of Transportation (www.nhtsa.dot.gov), Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (www.hwysafety.org), and Insurance Information Institute (www.iii.org). Check it out — it just may save your teen's life.