Latest news with #carSafety
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
The 4 Car Brands Safest for Teen Drivers in 2025
Teenage drivers are still learning the rules of the road. As a parent, safety is likely your top priority, and choosing the right car for your child is a huge part of that. It might be tempting to give them a free used car from a family member or a cheap clunker, but these might not be the safest options. You can't put a price on your new driver's well-being, so it's important to choose one of the safest car brands for teen drivers. Find Out: Read Next: The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and Consumer Reports (CR) teamed up to create a list of the safest brand-new vehicles for teen drivers. Top brands included on the list were Mazda (six vehicles), Hyundai (five vehicles), Honda (four vehicles) and Subaru (three vehicles). Keep reading to learn which specific models from each of these brands made the list, with prices sourced from Kelley Blue Book. Starting price: $25,400 If you'd rather buy pre-owned, the 2022 Honda Civic sedan and newer models made the IIHS and CR list for best choices of used vehicles for teens. Starting price: $25,650 Also worth noting, preowned Mazda3 hatchback models from 2019 and newer made the list of best used vehicle choices for teens. See More: Starting price: $25,335 Probably not a surprise, Mazda 3 sedans from 2020 and up are on the list of best used vehicles for teens. Starting price: $29,445 Also on the list of best used cars for teens is Honda Accord models from 2021 and beyond. Starting price: $39,045 Starting price: $26,795 Starting price: $43,975 Starting price: $26,000 Another option, 2018 and newer models of the Hyundai Kona made the list of good choices of used cars for teens. Starting price: $30,155 A more affordable option, Hyundai Tucson models from 2022 and up made the list of best choices of used small SUVs for teens. Starting price: $26,615 Worth noting, 2022 and newer models of the Mazda CX-30 are on the list of best choices for teens seeking a used small SUV. Starting price: $31,920 Starting price: $31,415 You might also consider a 2019 or newer Subaru Forester, as it made the list of best used small SUVs for teens. Starting price: $39,915 Starting price: $41,650 If you're in the market for a used midsize SUV, 2019 and newer Honda Pilot models made the best choice for teens list. Starting price: $35,775 Noted on the list of good choices for teen drivers, a 2017 or newer — built after March 2016 — used Hyundai Santa Fe could also be an option. Starting price: $41,900 Starting price: $39,500 Starting price: $41,415 To save money, you might also opt for a 2021 or newer Subaru Ascent, which made the list of best used cars for teens. More From GOBankingRates 3 Luxury SUVs That Will Have Massive Price Drops in Summer 2025 The 10 Most Reliable SUVs of 2025 Warren Buffett: 10 Things Poor People Waste Money On This article originally appeared on The 4 Car Brands Safest for Teen Drivers in 2025
Motor Trend
5 days ago
- Automotive
- Motor Trend
Volvo Invented a Safety Device You Use Every Day—and Now It's Improving It
Here's a quick quiz: What's something you wear every day (or should), but you can't take it with you? If you guessed your car's seatbelt, here's a cookie. The modern three-point safety belt, specifically, owes its existence to Volvo, the Swedish carmaker renowned for its car safety innovation. In 1959, an engineer working for Volvo, Nils Bohlin, developed the three-point belt—and then Volvo effectively released that patent by vowing not to pursue infringement claims or charge royalties on it. After all, what better way to ensure widespread adoption than to, in essence, open-source a lifesaving technology? Of course, widespread adoption took a few years—okay, decades—but Bohlin's design, which locates two sections of seatbelt over the strongest parts of the body (the pelvis and chest) while also being easy to use by requiring only one hand to grab, pull across one's body, and buckle, eventually became the standard globally. Some innovations have altered the basic design somewhat over the years, both from Volvo and other automakers, namely retractable inertia-reel functions, those irritating motorized track-style units popular in the early 1990s, and more recently, belts with built-in airbags to better distribute crash forces across the body. ZF even came up with heated seatbelts—no mere luxury, this was said to reduce heater use (or need) in EVs, where using the heater can drastically affect range. Now Volvo is announcing another step forward for the three-point belt Bohlin invented 66 years ago: A "multi-adaptive" safety belt. A Multi-Adaptive What Now? This "world-first" technology, according to Volvo, introduces sensor feedback to the seatbelt's action in a crash, allowing the restraint leeway in "adapting to traffic variations and the person wearing it." What this means in practice is that the belt is plugged into sensor data from both inside and outside of the vehicle that can, apparently, gauge an occupant's overall size—including their height, weight, and "body shape"—and match that to their seating position. Using that information, Volvo says the seatbelt can adjust to a "higher belt load setting" for a larger occupant or more severe impact or a "lower belt load setting" for a smaller rider or a fender-bender. But those are only two examples; as Volvo points out, traditional seatbelt pretensioners have only a few load settings at most—the multi-adaptive setup, in Volvo's words, "significantly increases the number of so-called load-limiting profile variations," adding that the technology can improve over time by way of over-the-air (OTA) updates. Volvo doesn't specify how, exactly, the seatbelt pulls off this fine control, but it would seem the load-limiting mechanism for the belt—you know, the part that jams the belt if you try and lean forward too quickly while wearing it, or that locks it after unwinding the belt all the way with the intention of locking it to hold a car seat in place—has been transitioned from somewhat passive to active control. (The exploded view of the seatbelt reel below looks pretty complex.) This gives the belt the ability to more precisely modulate its lockup, we gather, in order to better restrain passengers in certain situations, while allowing some cushioning in others, thus reducing unnecessary belt-related injuries such as rib fractures. In some ways, this technology seems to be tackling the same basic issue that seatbelt airbags attempt to combat: Namely, secondary injuries from the restraint itself. The seatbelt airbag inflates in a crash to effectively increase the safety belt's surface area, spreading the load forces across a broader section of the body. Volvo is attempting the same trick, just not by way of increased belt surface area, but rather control over the belt's load limiter.
CTV News
6 days ago
- General
- CTV News
WATCH: How to escape from a submerged vehicle
Winnipeg Watch A demonstration in Winnipeg shows drivers what to do if their car ever ends up submerged in water.
Auto Express
6 days ago
- Automotive
- Auto Express
Tesla Autopilot is 'misleading', say car safety testers
Tesla and Volvo have both been criticised as part of Euro NCAP's latest round of car safety tests, with the former's 'Autopilot' autonomous driving system described as having an "inappropriate" and 'misleading' name. Following its most recent batch of Assisted Driving Grading assessments, Euro NCAP blasted Tesla for the name of its Autopilot system, which led to the Model S only managing to scrape a 'Moderate' rating after performing strongly in the Safety Backup tests, but poorly in the Assistance Competence section. This latter test focuses on how easy it is for drivers to comprehend a system's capabilities and limitations, how effective functions like adaptive cruise control and speed-limit assist are, and how easy it is to retake control of the car. Advertisement - Article continues below As the name suggests, safety backup tests focus on how well a car avoids a collision and how it overcomes certain issues such as a blocked sensor. With all of this in mind, the technical manager of assisted driving systems at Euro NCAP, Adriano Palao, accused Tesla of 'misleading consumers about their Autopilot system's capabilities simply through its name and marketing, which could have potential safety implications'. Euro NCAP says the name is "inappropriate" because it 'suggests full automation'; some of the main criticisms of Tesla's autonomous systems include the amount of force needed to correct steering inputs, as well as the over-reliance on the car's centre touchscreen for displaying alerts. Tesla refused to comment, however it did point Auto Express to a disclaimer on its online car configurator, which states: "The currently enabled features require active driver supervision and do not make the vehicle autonomous." As mentioned above, it's not just Tesla that disappointed Euro NCAP; Volvo also received lower-than-expected scores for its Pilot Assist system. Safety experts were unimpressed with how Volvo's system fails to lock out drivers from semi-autonomous functionality, even if they repeatedly take their hands off the wheel. Conversely, the likes of the Renault 5, Kia EV3, Toyota bZ4X and Porsche Macan were all rated as 'Very Good' by the team at Euro NCAP. The Macan was particularly praised for how it clearly notifies drivers of its self-driving capacities, earning strong scores in both the competence and safety backup categories. Next year, Euro NCAP will completely overhaul its safety rating procedures, focusing on what it describes as four main pillars: safe driving, crash avoidance, crash protection and post-crash safety. Want the latest car news in your inbox? Sign up to the free Auto Express email newsletter...
The Drive
16-05-2025
- Automotive
- The Drive
Old Cars Definitely Weren't Safer. This Engineering Breakdown Explains Why
The latest car news, reviews, and features. The phrase 'they don't build 'em like they used to' means different things in different contexts. When it comes to safety, 'building 'em like they used to' means setting aside many of the basic safety features that we take for granted in 2025, including airbags and crumple zones. We still hear the argument that old cars are safer, however, so engineering firm Munro & Associates made a video to debunk the myth. Carl Crittenden, the lead engineer for Munro & Associates, starts out by explaining that he's not out to criticize old cars. He likes them, he owns a few, and he restores them in his spare time. However, even from an enthusiast's perspective, the idea that a decades-old, body-on-frame sedan is better built than a newer sedan loaded with plastic simply doesn't hold water. He references a video shot in 2009 by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) that puts a 1959 Chevrolet Bel Air and a 2009 Chevrolet Malibu head-to-head in a crash test. While the Malibu wasn't exactly the high-water mark for sedans, it obliterates the Bel Air. And yet, the video remains controversial 16 years after it went live. Crittenden notes that one of the allegations he often hears is that the Bel Air's engine and transmission were removed in preparation for the crash test. He refutes that with photos that show the engine is still in the car. He also shoots down the idea that one of the fenders pops off because IIHS maliciously removed brackets. On a Bel Air, the fenders are mounted to the radiator support and to the body. That's it. In contrast, on the vast majority of newer cars, the fenders are mounted to a metal structure that doubles as a crumple zone. The sheet metal that was used in manufacturing decades ago was sometimes thicker than the sheet metal used today, but the body panels were usually weaker because they weren't reinforced. Crittenden proves this by comparing a door from an unknown 1961 model and a door from a new Kia EV9. The old door is a millimeter thicker but it's totally hollow. The new, slightly thinner door is reinforced in several places. So, no: Driving a land yacht isn't your best option if you want the safest car on the road. By all means, buy a classic car, restore it, drive the hell out of it, and enjoy it, but do it because it's cool, not because you think it'll save your life if you get T-boned by an Altima doing 45 mph. Got tips? Send 'em to tips@
