IIHS published the list of safest vehicles for teens

Each parent is trying to find an affordable yet safe car for their teens. The IIHS - Insurance Institute for Highways Safety is making parent's jobs easier as each year they publish a list of used cars that they recommend.

They look for affordable cars, however, some choices are expensive. The medium price for a car in that list is around $5,300. IIHS advises parents to pay a little extra to get safer cars.

However, the 3 main recommendations not to be ignored are the number of horses, the presence of Electronic Stability Control, and the size of vehicles.

They say that teens might be tempted to test their vehicles and high horsepower means more trouble. They also suggest that bigger is better. Meaning that a truck or SUV is safer than a coupe or sedan.

The most important of them being the Electronic Stability Control. Simply put - you should only buy cars that have the ESC. The ECS became mandatory in 2012 and IIHS asks parents to consider this factor.

Please note, that IIHS judges the vehicles from the perspective of a first used car for a teen. The same rules may not apply for adults or in other situations.