Safe Driving Tech for Teens

These days, you don’t have to take your teen’s word for it that they were totally following the speed limits, adhering to their curfew, and driving to and from school only. Instead, you can use technology, built into your car and mobile applications, to make sure your teen is truly a safe driver. While young drivers are more likely to get into fatal crashes than experienced drivers, a product or app that offers teen driver technology can help.

Aside from driver monitoring, modern cars come equipped with many safety features that the cars of yesteryear lacked, from stability control to backup cameras. Here’s how you can leverage technology to make your teen a safer driver.

Driver Monitoring Features by Manufacturer

Toyota Guest Driver Monitor

• Set a maximum speed limit.
• Get notified in real time if your teen misses their curfew.
• Set a distance limit.
• Set a daily driving limit.
• Get notified every time your teen turns on a vehicle.¹

Chevrolet Teen Driver Technology

• Set a top speed of up to 85 miles per hour.
• Set a volume limit for your car’s audio system.
• Turn on the Buckle to Drive belt-minder feature, which mutes the audio until the front-seat passengers are wearing their seat belts.
• Get an in-vehicle report card to show your teen driver’s problem areas and help them improve their driving skills.²

Ford MyKey

• Track the number of miles driven.
• Set a seat belt reminder and mute the audio system until they’re buckled in.
• Turn on a low-fuel/low-charge early warning.
• Restrict adult content on satellite radio.
• Set a vehicle speed limit with audible warning tones.
• Set speed audio reminders.
• Limit the volume of the audio system to 45 percent of its maximum.³

Hyundai Bluelink

• Get roadside assistance.
• Search for locations by voice.
• Get a weekly Driver Score, which shows your teen’s speed (how often they drive above 80 mph), total driving hours, driving schedule, and how smoothly they are driving.

Driver Safety Mobile Applications

Volkswagen Safe & Secure

If you have a Volkswagen, you can use the Safe & Secure app to track the following:

• Average mph
• Total number of miles driven
• Average speed

It also includes roadside assistance and a parking lot finder through Parkopedia. You can buy Safe & Secure in one- to five-year packages, with discounts if you prepay for a longer term.

Life360

Life360 is an iOS/Android app that has a number of driving safety features along with digital safety features. The driving-centric features include the below.

• Collision detection: If someone gets into a collision while driving over 25 mph, Life360 will send them a notification. If the driver doesn’t respond, Life360 will contact their emergency contacts within the vicinity.
• Driving reports: You’ll be able to see maximum speeds, number of miles, and number of drives. The app also tracks texting and driving, rapid acceleration, and hard braking.
• Emergency dispatch: If the app detects a car crash or receives an SOS alert, it can summon an ambulance and stay on the line until help is there.
• Roadside assistance: Life360 includes roadside assistance with all of its paid plans, which covers lockouts, tire changes, refueling, jump starts, and towing.

See Life360’s plans below.

AT&T DriveMode

Texting and driving is a pervasive issue among all drivers, but for teen drivers, it’s especially dangerous. If you have AT&T as your wireless provider, you can have your teen use the DriveMode app, which can do the following:

• Silence text notifications when driving.
• Send out automatic replies when they receive texts while driving.
• Ignore text messages that arrive if they’re driving 15 mph or faster.
• Only get text notifications if they’re below 15 mph for two to three minutes.
• Allow access to music and navigation with just one touch.⁸

TrueMotion Family Safe Driving

TrueMotion will provide scores for the following:

• Distracted driving
• Aggressive driving
• High speeds
• Other dangerous driving behaviors

The app is available for free on both iOS and Android devices.⁹

Hum by Verizon: GPS Locator

For Verizon users, the Hum app lets you see where cars are, request roadside assistance, schedule service, and review safety scores based on the following factors:

• Acceleration
• Average speed
• Cornering
• Fuel usage
• Hard braking
• Idle time
• Maximum speed
• Mileage
• Trip time

You’ll be able to see a location history of exactly where your teen drove and how safe they were driving overall.¹⁰

Conclusion

For more teen driving safety tips, keep reading our frequently asked questions below. Also, make sure your child knows your state’s teen driving laws before trying out the latest driving technology. Learning the rules of the road is essential to become a safe driver.