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What's the best and SAFEST car for your teenage driver?
May 1, 2025
Your teen wants a cool car and you want a safe car. Can you compromise? I dig into how Consumer Reports and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety have teamed up to find 122 vehicle models ideal for teens in all styles that will fit the bill as well as your price point.
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teens they love the freedom of their
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first automobile but let's face it teens
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are also prone to accidents four times
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as much as older drivers and it's not
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just fender benders we're talking about
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we see the headlines all the time teens
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involved in serious as well as fatal
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accidents it's really important to focus
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on safety because we know that teens are
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at increased risk of crashing uh we know
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that from the data that's why the kind
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of vehicle that you buy a teen matters a
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lot now parents are more likely to put
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their kids in an older used vehicle so
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you need to look for an affordable
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vehicle which doesn't compromise on
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safety consumer Reports and the
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Inservice Institute for Highway Safety
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have combined resources and put out a
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list of the best automobiles for teens
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there are a lot of options out there uh
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moderately priced to uh to a little bit
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more than that right
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absolutely we've updated our list of
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recommended vehicles for teens and the
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good news is there are a lot of options
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for parents who want to buy a safe
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affordable car for their teens the
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testers at IIHS and Consumer Reports
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have come up with 122 used vehicle
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models which you won't have to pay a
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tariff on and have safety criteria which
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are good for teens we have two tiers on
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our list uh good choices and best
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choices and good choices we're looking
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for vehicles that do well in our crash
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testing looking for vehicles that are
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avoid the smallest light lightest
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vehicles also avoid the heaviest
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vehicles like large SUVs and pickups
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those cap out at about $10,000 we also
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have best choices which go to $20,000
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and those were looking for all of those
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things in the good choices but also uh
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standard automatic emergency braking and
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better headlights the electric engine it
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may be very good for mileage but it is a
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bad engine for a teen driver you have to
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be careful with electric vehicles with
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teens because all of that power you get
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right at the start and so teens with
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their inexperience and their immaturity
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it helps to to have uh heavier vehicles
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lower horsepower vehicles to ease them
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into their experience
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the recommendations by the Consumer
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Reports experts looked at stopping
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distance handling characteristics and
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the propensity for distraction by incin
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controls
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while the IIHS testers focused on
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crashworthiness headlights and
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protective restraints now you will never
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entirely eliminate the chance of your
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child having an accident but if you can
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minimize the risks you are steps ahead
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working for you I'm consumer
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investigator Steve Sprager
#Teen Interests
#Used Vehicles
#Vehicle Shopping