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Would you buy your newly-licensed teen a brand new car?

22,510 8,433 December 15, 2010 at 08:37 PM in Chat
Why or why not?

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Would you buy your newly-licensed teenager a brand new car?
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Joined May 2008
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> bubble2 13,107 Posts
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OhNoItsDEVO
12-16-2010 at 04:53 PM.
12-16-2010 at 04:53 PM.
fark no!
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Joined Sep 2006
IVIodel citizen
> bubble2 19,431 Posts
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Fallacy
12-16-2010 at 04:54 PM.
12-16-2010 at 04:54 PM.
Quote from BayArea :
That is a good example, and it happens more often than what you think. Not every teen or young adult is the next Paris Hilton. Many youngsters appreciate the nice things their parents buy them and do good in their responsibilities (job, school etc...)

The mentality that if you buy them something it will OMG COMPLETELY SPOIL them is ridiculous. There is always a balance and a middle ground. People dealing with absolutes might think their parenting is right, but it really isin't (however everyone is entitled to raise their children as they please, as long as its legal). This is all IMO.nod
Iagree
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Joined May 2004
L8: Grand Teacher
> bubble2 3,439 Posts
Deal Hound
12-16-2010 at 04:55 PM.
12-16-2010 at 04:55 PM.
Quote from mishnah :
ahahahahahaha!

You're thinking kids with a superman complex will drive safer just because they dont want to wreck the new car??? Did you ever go to high school in america? Kids with nice cars wreck them more than kids with older cars, inexperience plus bigger engines usually equals disaster.
I'm not sure you know what a Superman complex [wikipedia.org] is (not sure I do either), but I assume you mean a kid who thinks he's invincible. If a kid believes he's invincible, he shouldn't be driving a car at all and should probably be getting professional help.

Quote from mishnah :
side-impact air bags? I'm a car nut and have been in a ton of junkyards, the odds of side impacts are incredibly low, and on most of the cars i've seen t-boned, the side airbags wouldnt have done a lick of good. [IMG]file:///C:/Users/Me/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image001.gif[/IMG]
I don't know how you arrived at the idea side-impact collisions aren't common. According to NHTSA's "Traffic Safety Facts 2007 [dot.gov]" report, the side is the initial point of impact for 25% of passenger cars involved in crashes. Side impact crashes are responsible for over 17% of traffic fatalities. With frontal impacts being the initial point of impact for 37% of passenger cars involved in crashes, side impacts are the second most common. These numbers are only for vehicles struck by other vehicles. These numbers would be higher if collisions with other objects (e.g. utility poles and trees) were included. I think the odds of a side-impact collision are actually quite high, and that should warrant considerable effort toward improving vehicle crash performance and reducing the likelihood of injury or death in such a collision.

Obviously, the side of a vehicle is a very vulnerable spot. Unlike in a frontal collision, there's not much between you and the point of impact to absorb energy. There's a good chance of getting your head slammed against a pillar or directly against the other object involved in the collision. With the side of a vehicle being so vulnerable, improving side-impact performance is now probably the most efficient way to improve overall vehicle safety. I'm glad this is happening now that side-impact airbags are becoming standard equipment. Occasionally, the government does something good, and mandating side-impact airbags is one of these rare occasions.

Let's pick a car that was available with and without side-impact airbags and see how it performed in side-impact tests in each configuration. I picked the 2004 Toyota Camry for this comparison. I picked this car because I think most people would consider it a safe car, and the IIHS [iihs.org] provides data for it with and without airbags. This is the only car I looked at data for, so I didn't spend any time looking for an unusual or extreme case.

Side-impact test ratings:

2004 Toyota Camry LE 4-door without side-impact airbags [iihs.org]
2004 Toyota Camry LE 4-door with side-impact airbags [iihs.org]

Additional test results:

http://www.iihs.org/ratings/datatables.aspx?class=30&type=s

The mere addition of side-impact airbags improved this vehicle's overall rating from the worst rating of Poor to the best rating of Good. Just look at the dent [iihs.org] the dummy's head left on the barrier that hit the car without side-impact airbags.

The side-impact airbags dropped the head injury criterion [wikipedia.org] (HIC) from 1,619 to 406. If you aren't familiar with HIC (and every car owner really should be), it is a measurement of the likelihood of head injury resulting from impact. The equation used to calculate HIC takes into account both the magnitude of the head's acceleration and the duration of the acceleration. The chance of injury is greater for higher HIC numbers. The numbers I've cited are specifically HIC-15 data, meaning the measurement duration is 15 ms.

This reduction in HIC reduces the likelihood of a critical injury from about 25% to virtually zero. It reduces the likelihood of moderate injury from being guaranteed to zero. Side-impact airbags practically take the risk of death off the table in this case.

I would hate to see my kid seriously injured or dead and be thinking "Gee, I wish I hadn't been too cheep to get side-impact airbags. They might have made a difference."

On a side note, I think actually teaching kids how to drive would keep them out of more accidents than anything else. Most kids are pretty much taught traffic rules and given a few pointers before being tossed the car keys. Before getting a license, they ought to spend some time on a skid pad and an obstacle course. Most people never push a car to the limit until they are forced to. Not knowing what to expect, the result is often a disaster.

Quote from mishnah :
tpms? Are you serious??? Give them kid a $3 pressure gauge and teach them how to check the air! It takes a few minutes to check all the tires. Taking a look at both sides of the car once a day is a more reliable tpms. :d
I thought TPMS was silly at first too, but I've changed my mind. I've discovered through experience that low-profile tires can be punctured while driving and lose enough pressure to cause damage before the driver realizes it. This can happen no matter how often you check your tire pressure. If you get a real-time warning the pressure is low, this can be avoided. I check my tire pressure often and visually inspect my tires each time I drive my car, but that isn't always good enough.
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Last edited by Deal Hound December 16, 2010 at 05:02 PM.
Joined Jun 2008
My name is Walter
> bubble2 6,360 Posts
428 Reputation
marg_fan
12-16-2010 at 05:22 PM.
12-16-2010 at 05:22 PM.
Writing this without reading the other posts.

Brand new car? No. The insurance on a brand new car for a newly licensed driver can almost be as much as the car payments. It just doesn't make sense to me getting a new driver a new car.

Once they have a few years driving under their belt (accident and ticket free), then a new car might be warranted.
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Joined Feb 2007
L9: Master
> bubble2 5,391 Posts
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CQ1
12-16-2010 at 06:25 PM.
12-16-2010 at 06:25 PM.
oh sure...as long as they use it to drive to work @the studio and bring home the residuals! :LOL:
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