<p>Here’s an article about the safest cars for teen drivers - </p>
<p>[Choosing</a> the Safest Car for Your Teen Driver - Edmunds.com](<a href=“http://www.edmunds.com/car-safety/choosing-the-safest-car-for-your-teen-driver.html?articleid=121346]Choosing”>http://www.edmunds.com/car-safety/choosing-the-safest-car-for-your-teen-driver.html?articleid=121346)</p>
<p>The newest cars are generally safer than older cars because they keep improving them to meet newer crash worthiness standards. the ‘5 star’ ratings changed a couple of years ago where they got tougher and you can bet car manufacturers are beefing up their designs to fare better. This is often in areas you can’t see or quantify (unlike number of airbags, etc.) - areas such as the ‘crumple zones’, door impact protection, new types of head restraints, dual stage airbags, etc. The brakes are better, stability control better, etc. Some fancier new things ($$) include lane change warnings, active collision avoidance (where the car will apply the brakes itself if it thinks a collision is imminent), etc. If you want the safe ‘est’ be prepared to spend.</p>
<p>There are tradeoffs on different types of cars - bigger, heavier vehicles are usually safer for the occupants of those cars (but not the tiny car they collide with), SUVs have higher seating positions enabling one to see better down the road, which is good, but have a higher center of gravity so they’re less stable in evasive maneuvers, an under-powered car can keep people out of trouble by not making it easy to hot rod but can get them in trouble for accelerating out of a situation, etc.</p>
<p>If driving in snow and ice then AWD is good to have.</p>
<p>Importantly - training. The more training the better. Some people have sent their kids to performance driving schools to practice on a skidpad, high speed evasive maneuvers, etc. which I think is a good idea if you have one near you and are willing to pay for it.</p>
<p>I think some minimums should be established - front air bags, not too small and not too big and not too tall, in sound mechanical condition. Going up from there - stability control especially if it’s any type of SUV/crossover, side airbags, etc. Go to the government website to check on the impact ratings for the vehicle you have in mind. You can also check on the highway institute’s website which does some different type of testing - </p>
<p>[Home</a> | Safercar – National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)](<a href=“Safer Car Vehicle Safety, Ratings and Recalls | NHTSA”>http://www.safercar.gov/)
[IIHS</a> vehicle ratings](<a href=“http://www.iihs.org/ratings/default.aspx]IIHS”>http://www.iihs.org/ratings/default.aspx)</p>