For generations, parents have passed their aging vehicles down to new teen drivers, but a study cautions that the practice can be dangerous. Nationwide Children’s Hospital instead recommends choosing a car that is no more than about five years old.
Newer vehicles tend to include far more advanced safety technology that older hand-me-downs lack. For families weighing cost against protection, the research makes a compelling case that putting an inexperienced driver in a safer, more modern car is worth the investment.
This article is written to sell newer cars. I am sorry, but my 2013 Subaru Legacy with an eyesight system is perfectly safe for my teen daughters, so I am not going to run out and buy a car that is 5 years old or less for them. It has a lot of mileage (151,000 miles) but they have a system that will stop a car before getting into an accident, has ABS, and has AWD. It did well in the crash testing back then and would still do fine today. You have to be logical in giving your kids a car, but saying it is only okay to buy a car that is 5 years old or less is crazy.