The accident rate amongst young drivers is nearly 4 times higher than amongst drivers over 20 years of age. … [+]
Teenage drivers have Accident rates almost 4 times higher than for drivers over 20, so it is vital to be certain that they drive secure vehicles. Reliability and affordability are also vital.
To help families, latest edition of an annual list of advisable Used and recent vehicles in a series of budgets that will help teenagers prevent an accident and keep them well protected when it happens, was announced on Wednesday by the Insurance Institute for Traffic Safety (IIHS) and Consumer Reports (CR).
“Vehicles are becoming safer, and for the first time since the disruptions during the pandemic, prices in the new and used car markets have stabilized,” said Jennifer Stockburger, operations manager of CR’s Auto Test Center, in an announcement. “These trends have allowed us to point families to even better options this year.”
The updated list of advisable used cars includes 58 models divided into two groups – “Best Choice” and “Good Choice” – and priced between $5,800 and $19,900.
Top-of-the-range vehicles also include automatic emergency braking (AEB) as standard, which is especially vital for young, inexperienced drivers who’re more vulnerable to making mistakes.
“It’s exciting to see crash avoidance technologies like automatic emergency braking making their way into the vehicle fleet and also making inroads into affordable used cars, including many that cost less than $15,000,” said Rebecca Weast, a researcher on the Insurance Institute, in an announcement. “With a little knowledge and patience, families can find the right vehicle for their new driver without spending all their savings.”
According to the researchers, the 22 advisable recent models for 2024 offer state-of-the-art impact protection and accident prevention.
For young novice drivers, each lists only recommend vehicles which are neither too small nor too big nor too fast.
For example, sports cars and other vehicles with excessive horsepower usually are not included because they encourage speeding and might tempt young drivers to drive dangerously. Also not advisable are minicars and other small, lightweight vehicles that won’t provide enough protection in collisions with other vehicles, in addition to large SUVs and huge pickup trucks because they may be difficult to handle, take longer to stop, and pose a greater risk to pedestrians, cyclists, and passengers in smaller vehicles.
The requirements for used and recent cars differ, however the advisable vehicles in each groups performed well within the Insurance Institute’s safety tests and in addition showed good leads to CR’s braking, emergency handling and reliability tests.
The recent cars also performed well within the areas of headlights and frontal impact protection for pedestrians.
This 12 months’s advisable vehicles include a completely electric model, the Hyundai Ioniq 6.
Electric vehicles are generally as secure as gasoline-powered vehicles, but there are concerns about rapid acceleration, the researchers noted. Unlike gasoline engines, drivers of electrical motors have fast access to the vehicle’s full power, they said, so extra caution must be taken when handing these vehicles over to young people.
For more details on the evaluation and the total list of advisable recent and used cars, see here: Here And Here.
