BEST CARS FOR YOUR TEENS 

Here at Nissan on the Atlantic in Jacksonville, we know It seems like just yesterday you were dropping them off at the bus stop for their first day of school and now they're asking for driving lessons. It can be pretty scary right? So our crew here have teamed with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety to bring you some car options to keep your young one safe on the road.

IIHS is known for its ratings of new vehicles, but for many families, a 2016 TOP SAFETY PICK or TOP SAFETY PICK+ isn't in the budget for a teen's vehicle. In a national phone survey conducted for IIHS of parents of teen drivers, 83 percent of those who bought a vehicle for their teenagers said they bought it used.

Defining safety

The recommendations are guided by four main principles:

• Young drivers should stay away from high horsepower.More powerful engines can tempt them to test the limits.
• Bigger, heavier vehicles are safer. They protect better in a crash, and HLDI analyses of insurance data show that teen drivers are less likely to crash them in the first place. There are no minicars or small cars on the recommended list. Small SUVs are included because their weight is similar to that of a midsize car.
• Electronic stability control (ESC) is a must. This feature, which helps a driver maintain control of the vehicle on curves and slippery roads, reduces risk on a level comparable to safety belts.
• Vehicles should have the best safety ratings possible. At a minimum, that means good ratings in the IIHS moderate overlap front test, acceptable ratings in the IIHS side crash test and four or five stars from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).