Which Brand is Better for Your Teen Driver? Honda or Ford?
One of the most terrifying things that you’ll ever do as a parent is handing your teenager the keys to a car. To your teen, it represents freedom and all of the things that go with it, but as a parent, it's undoubtedly very scary, to say the least.
At Service King Bandera in San Antonio, TX, we always stress the driver's safety through our blog, and that's why we decided this comparison for parents and teen drivers alike.
We’re going to explore the differences in safety features between Ford and Honda to help you decide which car offers greater safety for your teen driver. The Insurance Institute for Highways Safety (IIHS) is always a great place to start in our opinion. Their mission is to identify the safest vehicles on the road each year according to a certain set of criteria.
Ford's Safety Features
Teen drivers encounter tons of distractions. Even if you stress the importance of not using cell phones while driving, you have no idea what your teen is doing when you’re out of sight. Ford has the Ford Safe and Smart package that includes a variety of technologies designed to help your teen driver cut through the noise of many common distractions. Ford's list of safety features include the following features:
- Adaptive Cruise Control (with collision warning).
- Lane Keeping System (with some models actually steering teens back in their lanes).
- Blind Spot Information System with cross-traffic alerts (to inform teen drivers when switching lanes is not a safe move).
- Forward Collision Warning (that pre-charges brakes for increased sensitivity in case responders don’t react quickly enough).
- Electronic Stability Control (to keep all tires in contact with the road and avoiding sliding.
Several 2018 Fords do offer other safety features, such as tire pressure monitoring systems, cross-traffic alert notifications, and adaptive high beam headlights. While there aren’t any Ford models that earned the IIHS Top Safety Pick ratings for 2018, every model tested by the organization was awarded either a four or 5-star safety rating from the well-known National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) which puts vehicles through its own rigorous testing standards. You can search the specific vehicles on NHTSA’s website..
Honda's Safety Features
The Honda brand is committed to safety on two fronts. Their vehicles are equipped with both active safety technologies and passive safety features. The two work together to create safer vehicles for drivers and passengers on the road.
Many of these various safety features are standard on all Honda vehicles after 2017 and can make a huge world of difference for the safety of your teen.
Multi-angle rearview camera (provides three different angles to offer better views of what’s going on behind you when shifting into reverse).
Active stability systems (including brake assist, vehicle stability assist with traction control, anti-lock brakes, and electronic brake distribution).
Honda Sensing Features that offer driver assistance including the following:
- Collision mitigation braking system.
- Road departure mitigation system.
- Forward collision warning.
- Lane departure warning.
- Passive Safety Features from Honda
Honda also offers a variety of passive safety features designed to protect the people in vehicles when accidents cannot be avoided. These features include things like:
- Advanced airbag technology.
- Advanced design features for car bodies that protect the occupants by distributing the energy of the crash more efficiently.
- Seatbelt technology designed to offer sufficient protection while reducing the pressure applied to occupant’s chest.
Service King Bandera in San Antonio, TX 78238
Sources: US News and USA Today
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