PHOENIX (AZFamily) — If you have a new teen driver, you want them behind the wheel of something safe and affordable when they hit the road.
IIHS just released its new list of “Good Choices” vehicles for teen drivers. Seventy-four vehicles made the list, including the Nissan Sentra, model year 2015 or newer.
“We’re looking for vehicles that will protect the teen in the event of a crash and help them avoid the crash in the first place,” said Jessica Jermakian, senior vice president of vehicle research at IIHS. “All those vehicles under $10,000 on that list do well in our crash-worthiness tests, and they also do well in Consumer Reports’ handling and braking tests.”
If you want to boost the price point, you’ll get more safety features.
“In the under $20,000 list, we call those the ‘Best Choices,’ those add standard automatic emergency braking, which will help teens avoid crashes, and those vehicles need to do well in our headlight ratings,” Jermakian explained.
The Honda Insight, model years 2019 through 2022, is one of the 48 “best choice” vehicles, with a Kelley Blue Book private sale price of $11,600. The Subaru Forester, 2019 and newer, is also on the list at $13,000.
Here’s what didn’t make the list: “We want to make sure we stay away from the lightest, smallest vehicles. Those can put teens at a disadvantage in a car-to-car crash,” Jermakian said. “But we also don’t want teens to be in the heaviest vehicles, things like large SUVs or pickups. Not only are those maybe more difficult to handle, but they also put other road users at risk, particularly vulnerable road users like pedestrians and cyclists.”
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