The safest used cars for teens & families according to experts

For teen drivers and families, safety is paramount when choosing a used vehicle that fits your budget. These are the top picks from Consumer Reports, IIHS, and Car & Driver.

Oct 7, 2024 - 04:30
 0  3
The safest used cars for teens & families according to experts

For children just starting up to drive on a standard basis — and for adult drivers with adolescents — safety is paramount when choosing a vehicle. Knowing which cars are the least more likely to injure their inhabitants within the event of a collision is, therefore, a key step within the auto-buying process, whether you’re budgeting for a fresh or used vehicle.

Contained within the trendy day, some cars even have smart technology systems which can in all probability assist drivers avoid collisions altogether, but these stepped forward detection and avoidance features can add thousands to a vehicle’s price ticket, and most Americans can’t offer you the money for to buy new within the head.


Do not omit the move: Subscribe to TheStreet's free day to day newsletter


For parents who can offer you the money for to purchase a fresh car, choosing one in your entire safest new cars of 2024 consistent with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is a superior idea. But for everybody else, what are the safest used cars that this is more fit to purchase below $20,000? What about below $10,000?

Here’s what the experts should say:

Related: The ten most reliable car brands in 2024 consistent with experts

The safest used cars between $10K and $20K consistent with Consumer Reports and IIHS

Consumer Reports is a virtually century-old no longer-for-profit organization that tests vehicles at its driving courses and labs in Connecticut and New York and surveys its members about their very own vehicles. It truly is an extended way one in your entire foremost trusted voices in automobile safety and reliability.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, established in 1959, is a somewhat younger nonprofit, however it with out a doubt is likewise one in your entire foremost respected crash-test-conducting firms around.

The vehicles below were jointly selected by these organizations for a mixture of safety and affordability, making them perfect for teen drivers and working families.

2017 Toyota Corollas will probably be found for around $10,600.

Anadolu/Getty Images

Small cars

ModelYearsApprox. starting price

Toyota Corolla (sedan or hatchback)

2017 or more recent (sedan); 2019 (hatchback)

$10,600

Toyota Prius

2017 or more recent

$13,800

Mazda Three (sedan or hatchback)

2021–22

$sixteen,400

Toyota Prius Prime

2017 or more recent

$17,000

Honda Civic (sedan or hatchback)

2021 or more recent

$17,600

2018 Toyota Camrys will probably be found starting around $9,600.

Kevauto, CC-BY-SA-four.0 by way of Wikimedia Commons

Midsize–large cars & minivans

ModelYearsApprox. starting price

Toyota Camry

2018 or more recent

$9,600

Volvo S60

2017, 2021

$10,200

Volvo V60

2017, 2021

$12,300

Toyota Avalon

2017 or more recent

$14,400

Subaru Legacy

2019

$14,seven-hundred

Hyundai Sonata

2021

$17,200

Toyota Sienna

2018–20

$19,100

Honda Accord Sedan

2020

$19,200

A 2020 Chevy Equinox can start at around $13,800.

SOPA Images/Getty Images

Small SUVs

ModelYearsApprox. starting price

Chevrolet Equinox

2020, 2023

$13,800

Kia Sportage

2020 or more recent

$14,400

Toyota RAV4

2017 or more recent

$14,seven-hundred

Hyundai Tuscon

2020 or more recent

$14,900

Mazda CX-5

2021–23

$17,600

Lexus UX

2019–21

$18,100

Honda CR-V

2020 or more recent

$18,seven-hundred

Nissan Rogue

2021

$19,000

Subaru Forester

2021 or more recent

$19,000

Mazda CX-30

2022 or more recent

$19,900

A 2017 Vovlo XC60 most often starts around $12,100.

Gerlach Delissen - Corbis/Getty Images

Midsize SUVs

ModelYearsApprox. starting price

Volvo XC60

2017

$12,100

Hyundai Santa Fe

2019, 2020, 2023

$15,200

Toyota Highlander

2017 or more recent

$15,seven-hundred

Nissan Murano

2019, 2020

$15,900

GMC Terrain

2020, 2023

$sixteen,100

Ford Edge

2020 or more recent

$sixteen,seven-hundred

Lexus NX

2018–21

$17,100

Infiniti QX60

2019

$17,800

Mazda CX9

2020, 2022

$18,800


More automotive content:

  • Best new cars and SUVs below $30k consistent with Consumer Reports
  • The longest-lasting car models (200k+ miles) consistent with Consumer Reports
  • The lowest priced car brands to repair & do something about consistent with Consumer Reports

The safest used cars below $10k consistent with Car & Driver

Car and Driver, while no longer a nonprofit organization like CR or IIHS, has been around since 1955 and is normally well-regarded within the automotive community and has received a “high credibility” rating and a high “factual reporting” score from Media Bias/Fact Check (MBFC).

These are the 13 safest used cars below $10,000 that Car and Driver recommends for youngsters and other drivers for whom safety and affordability are primary concerns.

Older Ford Taurus models often sell for well below $10,000.

jpowers65, CC BY-ND 2.0 by way of Flickr

ModelYears

Ford Taurus

2011, 2014

Honda Accord

2013 or more recent

Honda Civic

2012–2015

Hyundai Tuscon

2012

Mazda Three

2011 or more recent

Mazda CX-5

2014 or more recent

Subaru Legacy or Outback

2013 or more recent

Toyota Camry

2012 or more recent

Toyota Highlander

2008 or more recent

Toyota Prius

2011 or more recent

Toyota Prius V

2012–2014

Related: Used cars to avoid buying consistent with Consumer Reports

Why are car safety features and crash test results so important?

Contained within the trendy day, most of us take driving as a right as a fact of life, despite the actual undeniable fact that it’s probably one in your entire riskiest things we do on a day-to-day basis.

In keeping with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, car crashes are the “2nd leading reason on the back of death from unintentional injuries within the United States.” Additionally, the DHHS reports that we within the U.S. experience car crash deaths at around twice the common rate of different high-income counties.

In keeping with the National Safety Council, you’re more more likely to die from a car crash than you're from fire, drowning, choking, or sunstroke:

Lead to of deathOdds of dying this way

Car crash

1 in ninety three

Drowning

1 in 1,032

Fire/smoke

1 in 1,236

Choking

1 in 2,482

Sunstroke

1 in four,402

Cars are, in a single sense, fast-moving, four,000-pound (on average) steel enclosures that we entrust our safety to on a day to day basis. And no matter 1’s own driving ability, reaction time, and safety consciousness, there's never very a resulting from regulate or predict the behavior of the countless other drivers with whom we share the roads.

None of this changes the actual undeniable fact that almost all Americans should drive no lower than semi-on a standard basis (Ninety four.5% of driving-age Americans drove no lower than once in 2022), however it with out a doubt does highlight the importance of taking into account safety features when choosing a vehicle — among essentially the most best safety features and crash responses can mean the variation between mild injury and severe injury or severe injury and death.

What's Your Reaction?

like

dislike

love

funny

angry

sad

wow