- Mazda seems throughout practically each class on the most recent suggestions checklist.
- Used EV depreciation created a number of unexpectedly inexpensive security picks.
- Forty-five used automobiles beneath $10,000 made the lower, together with some enjoyable ones.
Buying a youngster their first automotive used to imply handing over an outdated household hand-me-down or looking Craigslist for one thing low cost and hopefully dependable. Increasingly, although, mother and father try to string a more durable needle that features discovering one thing inexpensive, secure, straightforward to drive, and never highly effective sufficient to tempt a brand new driver into turning into the following viral freeway video.
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That balancing act is strictly what the most recent annual suggestions from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and Consumer Reports purpose to unravel. Their up to date 2026 checklist highlights used and new automobiles appropriate for teen drivers, and there are some shocking themes hiding beneath the rankings.
Read: IIHS Blames Car Ads For Speeding, Ignores The Bigger Safety Problem
IIHS and CR recognized 45 used automobiles beneath $10,000 that meet their security necessities. Another 29 used fashions with stronger security credentials, together with higher-rated headlights and automated emergency braking methods with pedestrian detection, will be discovered for beneath $20,000. The organizations say the aim isn’t merely affordability.
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“We curate this annual checklist particularly for teenagers as a result of driving holds additional threat for them,” stated IIHS Senior Research Scientist Rebecca Weast. “That stated, the options are appropriate for drivers of any age seeking to steadiness affordability with crash safety and crash avoidance.” But when you dig into the suggestions, one model begins displaying up over and over: Mazda.

The Japanese automaker seems repeatedly throughout a number of segments, with the Mazda3, CX-3, CX-5, CX-9, CX-30, CX-50, CX-70, and CX-90 all touchdown someplace on the lists. That’s shocking provided that loads of buyers instinctively affiliate Toyota and Honda with security, however neither comes shut in these findings.
The Caveats
Notably, the IIHS kept away from including just a few particular classes of vehicles to the checklist. Specifically, you gained’t discover small vehicles with low crash safety, sports activities vehicles, vehicles with a number of horsepower, or massive vehicles or SUVs. That final one may sound like a secure field for a child, however the IIHS rightly factors out that they’re worse at dealing with, more durable to maneuver in tight areas, extra harmful for everybody else on the highway, and take longer to cease attributable to their measurement and weight. The institute goes so far as to suggest avoiding them for teenagers.
Used EV pricing may additionally be one of many largest tales right here. Vehicles just like the Hyundai Ioniq 5, Kia EV6, Audi This autumn e-tron, and Subaru Solterra all seem on the checklist with costs hovering across the excessive teenagers. Not way back, many of those automobiles stickered tens of 1000’s larger. In a market the place depreciation on electrical automobiles has accelerated quickly, buyers all of a sudden have entry to newer tech and stronger security credentials at unexpectedly low costs.
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Zoom out, and this 12 months’s checklist says one thing bigger about in the present day’s market. The conventional “secure wager” manufacturers aren’t essentially dominating, EV depreciation is creating uncommon worth alternatives, and one automaker, Mazda, quietly seems to be successful a security battle most individuals in all probability didn’t notice was taking place.
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BEST CHOICES — USED VEHICLES
Small Cars
SWIPE
Midsize Cars
SWIPE
Large Cars
SWIPE
Small SUVs
SWIPE
Midsize SUVs
SWIPE
GOOD CHOICES — USED VEHICLES

Small Cars
SWIPE
Midsize Cars
SWIPE
Large Cars
SWIPE
Small SUVs
SWIPE
Midsize SUVs
SWIPE
Source: IIHS, Lead picture IIHS / YouTube
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