With supply constraints making purchasing a new or used vehicle challenging, it is especially timely to remind parents of teens about the importance of vehicle safety. Even when looking for an inexpensive option, safety should be the top priority.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and Consumer Reports provide a resource to help guide parents in this process. For the past few years, these organizations have partnered to create a list of safe and affordable new and used vehicles that they deem to be ideal for teens. An updated list was published in late May and can be found at https://www.iihs.org/ratings/safevehicles-for-teens.
The list contains 70 models.
The 49 used models range in age from MY 2011 to 2020 and in price from $6,000 to $19,900. Both Best Choice and Good Choice used vehicles have standard electronic stability control, above-average reliability, and test well for braking and emergency handling. They also get good ratings in four IIHS crashworthiness tests [moderate overlap front, original (31 mph) side, roof strength, and head restraints] and in NHTSA crash tests (if rated). Best Choice used vehicles also scored as good or acceptable in the IIHS’s driver-side small overlap front test.
The 21 new vehicles on the list are all winners of the IIHS TOP SAFETY PICK or TOP SAFETY PICK+ award, come with standard vehicleto-vehicle automated emergency braking, and do well in assessments of reliability, emergency handling, braking, and controls ease of use
-SOURCE: Safe Ride Nnews/Protecting Children in Traffic, May/June 2022 • Vol. XXXX, No. 3.
PHOTO CREDIT: IIHS
