PREPARING YOUR TEEN TO DRIVE w/ JESSICA JERMAKIAN from the IIHS

Welcome to the Carpool podcast with Kelly.

But I wanted to get, you know, because the last photos we got as a family were like Libby's

newborn and like Libby looks nothing like that and I look way skinnier.

So like we need to take new photos, obviously.

And Liz.

This is why I kind of hate the podcast because like you can go and find me, just be hypocrite

and never follow through on anything like composting.

I'm like, I want to do composting.

Your mom time off starts now.

Welcome back to the Carpool podcast with Kelly.

And Liz.

And guys, this is your last week of only one episode a week.

Thank goodness.

And then we're back.

We're back to two full episodes.

We'll get more into like, you know, we'll get more into our segments again.

It just won't be so like two girls riffing on a mic with a guest at the end.

You know, it'll be a little bit more like what you know.

What you know, but you know what you know today is.

It's two girls.

But it's a good guest.

It's our girl.

Jessica Jamaican.

The name I will never forget.

Yeah.

And so Jessica Jamaican is on the podcast day from the IHS and we are diving into

teen driver and how did it was, I mean, she always, one thing about her, she always

brings meat and potatoes and she did that plus a ditch the drive through that kind

of had me quaking.

See what what was I doing?

Why couldn't I be on this?

I don't know.

I couldn't I was unavailable.

Maybe I was sick kid.

I don't know.

I could not be on this recording and I kind of love it when I'm not on the

recordings because then I just get to like listen.

Yeah.

And so that was this was Jessica's third time on the podcast and I'm so embarrassed

because I'm like, oh, it's her third time on the podcast.

Like I'm not going to make her do a ditch the drive through again.

Right.

So we ended the recording and then she goes, why do you never ask me to do

a ditch the drive through?

And I was like, I feel like I have always asked you.

She goes, no, like I've never done one.

Oh.

And I'm like, so we started recording again and she had one locked and loaded.

Oh, OK.

So she's just like, I thought I was like, I'm not going to bother her

for a third recipe like she has permission to go through the drive

through, but no, she brought one and she's got I forget.

I didn't realize that she has two twin boys who are 15.

So like if there's anyone who's ready to talk about teen driver.

Wow.

It's just to make it from the IHS to make it from the IHS.

So anyway, that's the end of the episode.

But for that, though, Elizabeth and I have, we want to coin a new trend.

And I really feel like if you're a mom hearing this, like this is going to be like for you.

Because that's like the majority of our audience.

It's the concept of a micro hobby.

This was this is kind of spun off from our last episode where I just

we were talking about your birthday gifts and how you just are.

You talk about things and you have hobbies and you find little interests

and hosting is your big one right now.

And like that was what surrounded one of your birthday presents.

And it's just nice to have something to think about, to look forward to,

to like look up hacks about.

But I would even say like hosting is like a macro hobby.

Yeah, that's kind of like a micro hobby is my potato salad

because I've still brought I've had multiple conversations post potato salad

about people, you know, switching recipes and bringing it up to anyone who will listen.

I did make my broccoli salad round two with some additions.

I did some Greek yogurt and set a meal, make it a little lower cow.

So I could just go on and on. Yeah.

So a micro hobby is something that doesn't take up

a lot of time at all, doesn't take up a whole year, doesn't take up more than a day.

It's just like something that you really enjoy.

So like when I was really into frying fish, which I still am,

I'm planning to fish fry for the lake next weekend.

Like frying fish is a micro hobby of mine.

So I'm just like, what do I do?

Another huge micro hobby is Christmas cards.

Yes, because there's no one who loves a family Christmas card more than me.

Getting them, receiving them, hanging them up,

framing my one from the year, coordinating the outfit.

Talking about it 85 times in the podcast, telling everyone about I found my frame.

I'm looking for my no, I'm looking for a frame.

I can't find my frame. I finally found my frame.

Like, oh, my gosh, you're making your entire personality.

And it's my micro hobby.

And I'm really micro hobbying today because we are taking photos for our Christmas card.

And which like, thank goodness.

Have you ever done that?

Like taking photos, family photos that weren't newborn photos?

Or like our greater family.

Well, I've just like always had a baby coming, you know, like the family photo.

But I wanted to get, you know, because the last photos we got

as a family were like Libby's newborn and like Libby looks nothing like that.

And I look way skinnier.

So like, we need to take new photos, obviously.

Yeah, I would like to take yearly photos.

So we have that tonight, but it's like the pressure of don't even give me.

I'm not even I'm not going to go on the soapbox

about like how hard it is to coordinate outfits.

Like I'm just not doing that.

But the soapbox I will go on is these retailers need to chill

with putting away their their clothes so early.

It's like I'm trying to go find Fred.

Fred is the only child I couldn't find something for.

All I needed was a white, navy or denim collared shirt, like collared shirt.

I would have preferred a button down would have taken a polo.

No, went to Coles, Target, TJ Maxx.

They live in a small town.

So those are my options.

Not a single short sleeve collared shirt to be found for the child.

Find something in the back to school section.

He's not in that size yet, Elizabeth.

Oh, shoot, you're right.

Yeah.

So no, I couldn't.

And I'm just like, I'm in the toddler section at Target.

And I'm just like, it's not sweater weather.

Like you guys need to chill.

And it's the same thing with Libby.

Like I can't I Libby is just hit 18 months like or 18 month size.

So like I need that size and you've put it all away.

And I was it's just it's exhausting.

Yeah.

Like I can't buy a head because I don't know what size they're going to be.

And they just need to chill.

They need they need to chill.

It's August.

It's hot.

But anyway, I say that because so anyway, I figured out our outfits

are going blue and white spoiler, spoiler alert.

We're going blue and white, which actually I've never done

in a Christmas photo before.

So I'm very excited.

But I wanted to verify on Minted that I could like find a stunning

like art to go.

So I'm not only am I coordinating my outfits.

I'm coordinating my Christmas card already.

No, but you for sure can.

Minted always has really, really good options.

Minted had such.

Do they already have Christmas stuff?

I already have them out and they're well sunny.

And I will say that's a business that we're not upset

that they're putting their Christmas stuff out early.

No, I will say quick note to Minted, though.

There's too many options for three photos and not enough for four.

Oh, OK. What's a girl to do?

And I like what's a girl to do with a three photo option?

Yeah, those four kids.

Yeah.

But I get that that's a little harder to do.

I'm also trying to decide like,

Tyler, aren't in every Christmas card like that's not important to me.

It's really just like who has the best shot.

So I would like it to be a family photo.

But if it's not, I'm going to pivot to the kids.

So anyway, stay tuned.

You know, at the end of the day, you always have your family photos

and you can still frame that family photo to be up year round.

I love what I love about a Christmas card.

And if like, if you don't get it, you don't get it.

I don't know if I'm going to get out of my Christmas card,

but I like it when we can see the kids

because that's why you're looking back.

That's why you're displaying them.

So in five years, your kids are like, oh, look at how little I was.

Like, that's why you're doing that.

That's the magic.

So and if you don't know, if you're like newer to the podcast,

a huge family tradition that our mom started was she frames all of our Christmas cards.

So now she's got 20 plus frames or whatever.

So they're scattered all over the house.

Like you go to, you know, it's during the holidays.

You go to the bathroom, there's a Christmas card.

You go over here, there's a Christmas card.

But it's so fun to look back at all of our photos.

So I started doing it when we got married and I've done one every year.

And now I'm going to have, I think I'm going to have seven this year.

Like it's giving like, it's like two rooms.

It's time to scatter.

I see I thought about this already.

I do think I have one more year on my mantle and then I think I'll have to scatter.

It's really fun.

And if you're like, oh, that's cute.

I would love to do that.

It can potentially not be too late.

Like if you can go back, if you order through Minted or whatever,

Zazzle or whatever the sites are, keep some, yeah, you, they will keep them.

So like just go to your account and you can reorder like just one

or maybe like a small bulk amount.

Anyway, it's worth doing.

It's super cute.

And it's Christmas decor worth holding on to.

Anyway, I want to pivot back to micro hobbies because I was thinking about this

and I actually have a couple of micro hobbies that I would like to start.

And I think what you do so much better than me is micro hobbies,

because I think I bite off way more than I can chew.

And I try to shoot for macro hobbies before I micro anything.

Perfect example.

And this is why I kind of hate the podcast because like you can go

and find me, just be hypocrite and never follow through on anything like

literally composting.

I was like, I want to do composting.

And I got so many DMs was like, Liz, don't do composting.

Like, you're going to get my it's like, it's disgusting.

It's it's don't do not do that or start small.

And anyway, I just never did it.

And then I went on this whole rant at all this research about composting.

I never did anything with it.

So I need to start smaller and work my way up.

So here are here's one micro hobby that I would like to do.

And I could really see this becoming my a pillar of my personality.

And that is I want a spider plant.

Mm hmm.

I want I want real plants in my house.

I've heard spider plants are supposed to be very good for purifying air.

I'm not familiar with the spider plant genre.

Spider plants are are really good household.

Oh, I think they're ugly as heck.

Well, they're good household plants because they.

OK, can I go ahead?

You finish they purify hair.

And also they are hard to kill.

So Tyler's grandma was really into plants.

She was like that she just had plants all over the place.

And when we moved into our first house, when we got married,

she gave us a snake plant, look up snake plant.

OK, it's a better looking spider plant is what it is.

OK. And my snake plant is I literally forget to water it.

Whenever I drop an ice cube on the ground, I put it in the snake plant.

Like that's my attempt at watering it.

And I can split it because like they split off.

So I can give you some of my snake plant from grandma.

OK, all right, I'll take some snake plant.

I'll take some finer plant.

I just want to have plants and I'm going to scatter the plants as well

because I think I need the air purification or you'll let back in.

Let's start with one.

OK, yeah, let me start with one.

I'll start with a plant because you already have it.

And it's free because I already have it.

It's free. I think I even have like a darling blue and white dish.

I can put it in. Oh, excellent.

You know what? It'll be your, you know,

I will do it as your re moving home housewarming present.

Thank you.

Your remodeled housewarming present.

The snake plant from grandma.

Thank you. Thank you.

That's I think that is a good micro hobby.

And then you can tell us about your plan and yeah.

Yeah. And then like what I'm learning and whatever.

OK, so. Plants.

My second.

No, it was a plant.

Or there's one plant.

My micro hobby is one plant.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Second micro hobby.

I did this while we were living in mom and dad's or recently.

And I actually saw this one through, you know,

you can just like buy paint by number sets.

Have I talked about this on the podcast?

You haven't. You haven't.

OK, so I went up to Grayson's room one night

and she was on her in her clean room, a candle lit

rewatching episodes of the office on her floor

painting a paint by numbers set.

It's called it's by this brand.

It's paint by Frida.

You can get them on Etsy like you can look all over.

But paint by Frida has very aesthetically very cute, beautiful ones.

And I was like, Grayson, this looks so relaxing.

I would do anything for this to be my life right now.

But it wasn't back to the basement.

I go with my with my messy kitchen and children running all over.

Anyway, I was so inspired that I ordered a paint by Frida

and I bought one that wasn't too complicated

and that I could actually see myself hanging up in my house.

And I got it and I got so obsessed with it.

I finished it in like two weeks.

It does look really good.

It was like a blue hydrangea.

Like I agree, like it's totally something you could hang.

It's in my bathroom.

My mom goes, that's look that looks amazing there.

It's in your bathroom.

It's in my it's in my powder room.

So if you ever combine they're like, oh, my God,

where's that something piece of art?

I feel like I have something to say.

Oh, it's my paint by numbers set.

It's paint by free.

Like there's a conversation.

It's not just home goods.

What a good gift.

But I was I'm at seeing paint by Frida

and only that Frida girl with the eyebrows is coming up.

So no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

You can look on Etsy for paint by numbers kits

or go back to Google and type in paint by Frida.

Paint by numbers.

I didn't know that.

Someone else might have done the same thing.

Well, we were happy.

We're hashing it out.

First of all, it's paint like Frida, not by Frida.

Sorry, paint like Frida.

These are so cute.

OK, you know what?

I want a these are so fun.

You can apparently too on Etsy or other websites

upload a photo and some they will not too much.

I'm just saying that I don't know.

I haven't done it.

I'm not saying I'm going to do it, but I'm saying it exists.

If you really want to get into it.

OK, so you have the beginner friendly.

Oh, like look at this lemon one.

Like what if I just hung a lemon on the wall?

Cal, that's what I'm saying.

Like those are the paint like Frida ones

are actually worth hanging up in your home.

So paint by numbers is a micro is a micro hobby.

OK, that's really exciting.

So anyway, just like it's OK,

like normalize your micro hobbies,

like if there's something that you enjoy, it's a micro hobby.

I also think a good place to find micro hobbies.

Maybe this is just me.

Go on your Instagram and go to your saved reels

because there's probably something in there

that you would like to revisit.

Oh, but that is excellent advice.

Let me do that right now

because I'm always saving things

like I'm going to come back to them.

Uh-huh. And this is just everyone's reminder

to go look at your saved instinct.

Don't go and look at new stuff.

We don't need to see new stuff.

Go look at what you've saved.

This is a perfect example

because I saved something about this girl

who got a new school lunchboxes

and I said I should be doing lunchboxes

and I can make school lunches my micro hobby.

Oh, kids hair, girl hair tutorials, micro hobby, micro hobby,

making flatbreads, micro hobby.

Yeah. OK.

So your instinct, if you don't know

where to start with your micro hobby,

start in your saved Instagram.

See, here's what I want to make.

This is a micro hobby of me for sure.

Peach, ricotta, crostini.

I added these to my saved.

I will never make it.

No one in my family will enjoy these.

So it's like just something for me.

Like I want to make a big play of these peach crostinis

and sit down and eat them by myself.

I'll come. I'll come over.

Well, I mean, I mean,

Liz peaches will be out of season by then.

Like, wouldn't we ever get that on the books?

Yeah. You know what I mean?

Yeah.

So anyway, maybe you can bring them over

when you bring over my snake plant.

Maybe they can bring over.

And we can enjoy them in my new kitchen.

There we go. There we go.

It's never going to happen, but.

No, you never know.

But you know what also is happening is

we are almost on with August.

So whatever was being in the emails,

sorry, we were a little bad at promoting that on the podcast.

But we are going into September

and then following October, November.

December.

So follows upon us.

We've had some great weather here in the Midwest.

Do you think it'll go back to like 95?

Perhaps.

Yeah, I know.

I have a long sleep shirt on today.

And I'm like going to sweatshirt.

Like I'm just so cozy, wozy, just such fall girl energy.

So let's talk about one more thing before you go ahead.

No, no, it's OK.

Well, are you going to move into the podcast interview or no?

No, OK.

Well, I'll say my thing, then you say your thing.

OK.

The new Palisade.

Yeah, no, I wanted to talk about this.

I don't think it was a secret that like the Palisade was

on my favorite midsize SUVs.

Like I always said, if I was done with two kids,

I would buy a Palisade.

Like I live, breathe and die by the Hyundai Palisade.

And I was very excited about the redesign

because they were adding these things.

And I've liked Hyundai's exteriors.

I know they're a little different, but they're also like they're

fresh and they're fun and they're and they're updated.

Whereas like some manufacturers just don't update anything.

So even the exterior, like I could get behind.

I know some people are like, it's too boxy.

It looks like this. I don't like the grill.

I actually like the exterior.

I think it looks very luxurious.

Like holy airball on the interior, though.

I am so disappointed.

Yeah.

And it feels.

And some people were commenting, like,

can you just see other trim levels?

No, I don't actually.

I'm pretty much an experienced eye on this.

I think I would like other trims

and other color combinations better.

I don't like it as much as the outgoing one.

And I cannot believe how much they changed it.

I cannot believe how much they changed it.

Yeah. So it's a different car on the.

It's a totally different car.

We were really excited because it had a lot of good

upgrades that they did make behind the driver's seat

to include the car seat tilt

and some additional car seat hardware.

So that was exciting.

Where they really, really screwed up, in our opinion,

is from the driver's perspective.

My previous car, I drove like a month ago,

was a Hyundai Palisade and I loved it.

I had no I really had no notes.

Easy to use, functionality was amazing, great storage.

Just truly, truly no notes would buy that car, would drive it.

I texted my friend who is looking at a Hyundai Palisade

and I said, do not consider the 26.

Look for a used one or buy a more buy a 25.

Well, and here's the advice I gave my best friend.

And we're not saying that's that's not the that's not

the advice necessarily from the car mom team.

But that's the advice we give you to our best friend.

So let's talk about the 25s.

The 25s are often zero percent APR for 60 months right now.

So make haste, make haste.

Here's the problem with it from the driver's seat.

It's pretty, it looks really good.

But some of the really I think I don't I.

OK, you're right.

It's not that pretty.

The outgoing one was prettier.

Kelly said she felt like she was in a padded a padded room.

Like padded safe room, a padded safe room, which I see that

which normally we compliment Hyundai on their use of mixed materials

and wood trim and contrast stitching.

And it was just like flat leather.

And then that will also scratch.

It's like this fleshy Napa leather and like they're like, it's so soft.

And I'm like, you know what soft leather does?

It scratches, soft leather scratches.

It is not durable for a car.

Yeah, it they took away like the main bridge.

There's like there's no storage.

There's there is a different type of storage.

It's worse storage.

That's just what I'll say.

A really big miss is the shifter.

They moved the shifter from the main cat like storage

bridge area was in the bridge.

Yeah, it was in the main bridge area to the to this behind the steering wheel.

Like my knee was hitting it.

It's like, did no one did no one over like five, seven sit in the driver's seat?

Like it's bizarre.

Like what I need to see the R&D on this, I want to see the R&D reports.

And I'm I'm it's shocking because I really thought

like this was going to be a really big potential for car car of the year.

Because I mean, the two big ones that are that are going to come out

for twenty five are the Palisade and the expedition.

And, you know, seeing the expedition like the expedition,

the only good upgrade they made was the split tailgate and like they did some.

So it was already they were already working with a really good car.

Obviously, I love that vehicle.

But then they did that thing with the back end.

I don't know. That's hard to look past.

And I was like, it might be the Palisade

because like the Palisade has always been such a good lux car.

Like I love it, love it, love it.

Um. And then they just like messed it up.

And I'm also taking on bridge with them because like they added the car seat till.

But the higher trims, actually, I can't.

And I can't really find a good breakdown when it's not power.

I don't know exactly what trim it's not power, but a power car seat

tilt does no one any good.

Also, a car seat till is only good if you have a bench seat.

If you don't have the bench seat,

like what are you would you use it for?

And they haven't even started producing the benches.

So it's kind of like to me, just a little click bait.

Like, look, we did the car seat till.

But like you didn't actually apply it to real world scenarios in the slightest

because like it's not with a bench seat, it's power.

And the power seats in the second row are bad

because then like any power seat, I don't like power seats

in the second and the third row when you have younger kids

because like they hit those buttons.

Now their car seat isn't installed correctly.

Yeah, it's like, great. Like how fun is that?

You want to check that every single time you get in the car?

It's not. It's honestly, it's it's it's Missville, USA.

And I'm very anxious to see the key to tell you ride.

Yeah. Are you laughing?

I'm laughing. She said Missville, USA.

I've never heard you say that.

It didn't really make any sense.

I'm Pittsville, USA over being Missville, USA.

Yeah.

So anyway, full blown tour where Kelly

airs out all of her grievances on the Car Mom YouTube channel

if you are in the market for a new Palisade.

And just remember,

and I know you guys know this,

but like one thing about us is we're always going to give our opinion

and like we will net we have we never will.

We never have let a manufacturer sway us, let our families dealership sway us

because I'm really sitting there trashing that car at my dad's

Hyundai dealership because I don't give up.

Because it's just like it's not right.

Yeah, it's not right.

And I'm sassy about it.

Sir. Well, it's not that it's not right.

It's just it's their decision.

It's just not a good one.

Oh, and how about the other piece of industry news?

Nissan's bringing the XTERRA back.

Now that is hot tea.

And here's the thing with the XTERRA.

You don't have to. I don't care what you are.

We're going to like it.

Yeah. Like I just know.

And here's what the XTERRA is.

And I want you to lock in on this.

Ready? Mm hmm.

And how do I say it?

How do I say like something is and something was like?

The Nissan XTERRA, like everyone wanted a Nissan XTERRA in like 2010.

Like that was the hot car to have.

And like it is today's Ford Bronco.

Yeah.

Don't you think?

Which good for Nissan for like having an icon.

Well, here's the thing about Nissan.

Nissan has Nissan has a horse in every race.

And that's I think their problem because Nissan's not doing very well.

Like their stock continues to tank because they have a horse in every race.

Except for the Minivan, but they used to.

But like Nissan just needs to chill.

It's like they need to just find a find a lane and kind of stick to it.

No, I'm so excited.

But I think the XTERRA is actually a good lane to stick in Nissan.

No, I do think the XTERRA is a good lane.

I just hope they don't screw it up because they could.

Nissan just needs to be like the more techie Subaru.

Like that's who Nissan should be.

Yeah.

You know what I mean?

Yeah, I agree.

I agree.

Did you see the Chrysler Pacifica Grizzly Peak?

I did.

Literally, I got that as a press release in my emails and I'm like, okay.

I thought like I would have thought it was April Fool's joke.

I'm being debt.

I'm being 100% dead serious.

Okay.

So it is the Grizzly Peak is a concept vehicle by Chrysler.

And it's essentially a off-roading minivan.

Which is fine.

Which is actually not a bad idea, believe it or not.

But is it an off-roading minivan?

Like, but does it actually, how does a minivan offer?

They have six inches of ground clearance.

Like I just don't really know what I'm missing there.

Is it raised?

I think, okay.

So has been raised two and a quarter, two and three fourths inches in the front

and two and a half inches in the rear.

So maybe it was just a matter of almost three inches to be raised.

But I mean a minivan, the shell of a minivan makes sense to be an off-roading vehicle.

Because you can lay the seats down.

It can be totally flat.

You can jump in it.

There's a lot of actually, I'm not mad.

I'm actually not mad at this.

Okay.

You're right.

I might have been a life on the beginning.

I'm kind of still writing my Hyundai sass.

But I just think.

I'm happy to see them doing some.

I'm happy to see some minivan news maybe.

Well, especially from Chrysler.

I'm just happy to see a minivan make the headlines.

Headline.

Liz, are you ready to get into our episode because we've been talking 25 minutes

and you know I had to keep Sister Jessica on for a while too.

So we better just kind of get to it.

Let's do it.

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Jessica Jermakian, welcome back to the Carpool podcast.

Thank you.

Is this your second?

This is my third time.

We just can't get enough of the IHS and sorry I didn't say that.

That's music to my ear.

What remind me of your official title?

I'm the senior vice president of vehicle research at IHS.

Hear that.

Hear that you guys.

Hear that.

So excited.

We love the IHS.

You guys are doing huge work.

Tell us before we work.

So anyway, let me back up.

I brought her on to talk about teen cars in August.

We always like to cover teen drivers and the IHS and consumer reports

in the lab on such an iconic list of what not only what makes a good teen car

but they also give those recommendations.

So we're going to get to that before we do that.

Jessica, tell us what's new at the IHS.

What's something fun you guys are working on right now.

So one of the things that we're working on.

Actually, this is a little bit outside of your maybe your viewership

or your listenership or whatever.

But one of the things we're trying to do that's super exciting

is accelerating commercial vehicle safety.

So moving beyond passenger vehicles and people to think about commercial vehicles

and hopefully ultimately preventing those commercial vehicles

from say impacting your passenger vehicle.

So like what?

Like an Amazon truck?

Yep, exactly.

Because that was by a commercial vehicle?

Exactly.

Yep.

Okay.

That is kind of interesting.

Yeah.

Because like those probably haven't been crash tested much.

They have not.

And importantly, they haven't been gone through a battery of tests

related to crash avoidance in any kind of public sort of way.

And so when we're thinking about protecting people on the road

and protecting people in your communities

and you see all those Amazon delivery trucks

that everybody's getting deliveries like every day

and there's other vehicles

but also pedestrians, kids playing in and around those vehicles.

So thinking about what we can do to make those vehicles safer

in terms of preventing crashes with other road users.

And of course, also protecting the people that are in those vehicles

but mostly looking outward from those vehicles.

That is so interesting.

Yeah.

Are you guys going to release it or will it be?

Yep.

So we are all the delivery vans are coming into the shop right now.

We've started to take delivery

and we're going to be testing them out on our track later

in starting in a few weeks.

So ultimately we will release the results

and hopefully have some influence.

Do you guys place internal bets at the IHS

before the things start?

Like is there any friendly competition at the office

on like who you think is going to do well?

We do certainly talk about who we think the ringer will be.

Who will ace the test?

Who might not ace the tests?

Like could I put 100 bucks on the Rivian Amazon truck?

Is that how it works?

That's so interesting.

Yeah.

Okay.

So let's dive into all things teen driver.

Okay.

Teen driver.

I feel like there's two kind of like facets of this type of content.

It's how do we prepare teens for the road?

Whether that be driving, car care.

And then also what makes a good teen car?

And I feel like this topic can be really difficult to cover

because just like every family has different needs and budgets.

I mean, the same thing applies to a teen car

and everyone has a different opinion on what they think makes

a good teen car, how much you should spend on a teen's car.

You should make your teen buy in their own car.

Like everyone's going to parent a little differently.

But what I think you guys did a good job of is

I think we can all kind of agree.

Like a good teen car is a safe car and a reliable car.

Like those are just two things that are important.

And you guys know that most people aren't buying their teen

a new car.

They're looking at the pre-owned market.

So if you're going to be in the pre-owned market,

if you want to be like in that $20,000

and under price range for your teen's car,

what should you look for?

So you guys put out this list every year, right?

Yep.

So we put out the list every year.

We, as you said, we partner with Consumer Reports

and by partnering with them, then we can identify vehicles

that do well in both of our testing programs.

But specifically what we're looking for is, of course,

a vehicle that will be safe in the event of a crash.

And for our best choices on the list,

we're also looking for vehicles that will help prevent

the crash in the first place.

But just kind of overall, in addition to being,

you know, doing well in crash testing,

in handling and braking tests,

and in crash avoidance tests,

we're also looking for vehicles that are not

the smallest, lightest ones

because those won't provide the best protection

in a crash with another larger vehicle.

But we also don't want teens to be in the

largest, heaviest vehicles either.

Those can be difficult to handle.

They have longer braking distances.

So those also aren't a good choice.

So what we're looking for is those ones kind of

will be in the middle.

So avoid the smallest, lightest.

Avoid the biggest, heaviest.

And then we're also looking for ones that have

lower horsepower, aren't marketed for speed.

It's too tempting for teens to, you know,

to hit the accelerator and speed

or getting conditions that they're not prepared to be in.

And so I'm curious when we say,

because I'm reviewing the list right now,

and you do have every type of car on the list.

And this is open to anybody, right?

You don't have to be a Consumer Reports member

to get this list.

Correct.

This is available on our website.

Yeah.

Awesome.

But you don't have the small cars

like a Chevy Bolt or like a Nissan Versa,

like the really smaller cars.

So what we're looking for is for vehicles

that are at least like about 2,700 pounds.

Yeah.

And that basically excludes the whole mini car category

and then some of the small cars.

Yeah.

And then we're also exclude large SUVs and large pickups.

Those fall in that other category of difficult to handle.

Yeah.

So I think something that I think is really interesting

that you said is about, you know,

it's the balance of the crash worthiness,

how that would perform to the crash testing,

but also the importance of, you know,

trying if you can to prioritize getting some

of that crash prevention technology.

I want to talk about why that's so important.

Is there any statistics that you can share with my audience

on how teens drive maybe not so well

or how learning to drive can be objectively

like some of the most dangerous times they have on the road?

It is absolutely true that it is the most dangerous time

for them on the road is when they're learning to drive,

but after they've been, you know,

they no longer are in supervised driving,

but they have their provisional license

and they're out navigating the world on their own.

And we know that teens are four times as likely

to get in a crash as drivers 20 and older,

like per mile driven,

four times as likely to get in a crash.

That's huge, but also...

Yeah, that is huge.

Yeah, they're also three times as likely to die in a crash.

Yeah.

And the problems stem from two different things.

It's both immaturity and also inexperience.

And so, of course, they haven't driven before.

This is all new to them.

They don't have the experience that older drivers have,

you know, through their years of driving on the road

in different conditions.

So, there is that inexperience problem,

but there's also an immaturity problem.

We know that teens do not...

The rational part of their brain doesn't fully form

until they're about 25.

And so, when they're making judgments out on the road,

they're more likely to be making them, you know,

with their emotional brain rather than their rational brain.

And it just...

It leads to decisions that, you know,

it's best if we can help protect our teens

while they're getting that experience and getting more mature.

Yeah.

And one hurdle that I feel like I'm always trying to justify

with parents selecting a car for their teens is they have...

They carry the sentiment that they don't want their teens

to learn to rely on technology.

Yes, we hear that a lot.

I disagree. I disagree with that.

I think that anyone's super familiar with

the crash prevention technology.

Like, let me be clear.

I am not waiting for my automatic emergency braking to turn on

because I don't want to put my foot on the brake.

Like, I'm by no means relying on that technology.

But it's nice backup.

And I think what's really exciting about being a mom

of a new driver now is even in the used car market,

you can get that technology.

Like, I kind of feel...

And I'm curious on your opinion on this, too.

I kind of feel like ever since 2017

when like a lot of this stuff really became standard

or, you know, vastly available on the cars,

things have kind of plateaued.

You can't get a ton more crash prevention tech

on a new car than you could on a 2017.

Like, they have the blind spot.

They have the automatic braking.

They have the backup cameras.

And I think that's really exciting.

It is. It's hugely excited.

And what's great about it is that technology

is so effective in preventing crashes.

We see it in the real-world data.

We see it for older adults.

But it's particularly important for teens

who, you know, are more likely to make mistakes.

They're more likely to lose focus.

And so the types of crashes that teens get in,

they're more likely to need that safety backup.

And like you said, you know,

people aren't waiting for their automatic emergency braking

to kick in, you know, if they're paying attention.

The problem comes in is if you're not paying attention.

If you're distracted or you make a judgment error,

which is common with teens,

you have that safety backup.

Yeah. It's...

I think it's so key.

And I feel, and like into your point,

we know they're most likely to get an accident

when they first are learning to drive.

So at some point it's,

okay, they relied on it and it saved their lives.

Okay, I'll take that.

Yeah, what we want to do is we want to bridge that time

when they're able to get the experience

and they're able to mature.

We want to, you know,

make it so that they are safe during that period

so they can make it to the other side

of being an experienced, you know,

still, you know, safe driver.

Yeah, and I just think I think it's just so crucial.

And so on our list, on our list,

we have two different tiers that we've separated out.

So we have ones that are at,

that we call good choices,

that make sure that they have good crash test ratings,

good handling and braking ratings

from consumer reports,

meet the criteria we already talked about.

They're not the smallest. They're not the biggest.

They're not high horsepower vehicles.

So all of those are on a list that is caps at $10,000.

So our $10,000 are below.

And then we have the next tier is best choices

and those are the ones that focus on

that crash avoidance technology,

making sure that they have standard automatic emergency braking

that performs well in our vehicle-to-vehicle testing

and in our pedestrian testing

and also have headlights that perform well

in our headlight testing.

Yeah, I think what's what I love about,

so I'm looking at the list of the good for safety under $10,000.

And it is such, I mean, it's such a comprehensive list,

which I think is so crucial for families

who are going to have all different type of price points

and size that they're after.

But what's so crazy is, you know, there's cars

that are on this list that go back to, you know,

2014, 2015.

So we're talking about 10, 11-year-old cars.

And I'm just sitting here being like, you know, my son,

my oldest is six.

And I'm like, so the cars,

so the new cars that are being sold right now,

like those are going to be the same cars

that are going to be on, you know, this list, hopefully.

So I told my husband this the other day, I'm like,

isn't it crazy that like a brand new car right now

could be George's first car?

Like we're already there.

And yeah.

And I hope I know that you guys don't buy all your cars

and you guys, you know, swap out cars a lot,

but for parents who are buying cars, think about that.

Like if are your teams going to be in the vehicles

and you can use these same guidelines to kind of guide those.

We did in the release that we put out

on the recommended list for teams,

we do have new vehicles that are on there

that are at a higher price point.

Yeah.

Those, you know, parents likely aren't going out

and buying those for their teen drivers.

But if parents are looking for a new car

and will ultimately get passed down to their teen drivers,

then those would be good choices for them to look at.

I think that's, it goes this, it's something that I talk about

a lot on the car mom where it's like you kind of have to forecast

how the car is going to work for your family.

And yes, the teens are the same way.

I did a consultation the other day.

Mom had a 10 year old one to keep the car six, seven years.

He says, oh, you're going to pass it down.

And like she had, she hadn't even considered it.

So I do think if you're in that space,

I think you're going to be in the same space.

Yeah.

Verifying and just kind of hitting these same marks,

I think are really important.

Like prioritizing a car that has the good reliability,

that has the good crash prevention tech that is a little heavier,

that doesn't have the crazy horsepower to make it just a really,

because those are also, you could argue,

all of the good makings of just a good family car in general.

Absolutely.

So I love that.

Yeah.

And now I do, I do actually think the way that our world will work.

I do think we'll end up probably buying our kids cars.

Yeah.

I'm going to have to wait and see what happens.

But I'd love to get George something like a Chevy Colorado

or a Ford Ranger.

Like I just kind of see that for him.

I think he'll need that.

That's not what I can conceptualize right now.

Yeah.

So, so again, going with like the same criteria we've been

talking about today, like what we're looking for,

ones that are not too small, not too big,

not too high horsepower.

But otherwise, you know, parents want to have choices.

They want to have flexibility for what makes a teen car.

Yeah.

And we tried to make the list as expansive as possible this year.

So I mean, there are, you know, 100 and something.

That's what I'm saying.

There's a lot.

And I almost think there's, there would be a level of,

it'd be fun where, you know, you, you, whatever you decide

you're in your teens budget are, whether they're paying

for a portion of it, you're paying for it.

Like you give them this list and you say, okay, like

here's the list that I would recommend choosing from

based on, you know, IHS and Consumer Reports.

You could do some research on, and you decide what car you want.

Exactly.

What a good, what a good learning experience for them to do

the research, maybe do some of the negotiation on the car

when they're buying it, like teaching them about, you know,

how to buy a car.

I can't tell you also how many times I sold cars to

someone who had never bought one before.

And I mean, they knew nothing.

Like they knew nothing about, you know, kind of

myself included like paying sales tax on a car

and insurance and property tax.

And there's so much that goes around car ownership,

which I do think is really important.

Okay, so Jessica, you have soon to be drivers.

Yes.

Yes, I do.

Two of them.

15 year old.

Two 15 year old twin boys.

Yes.

What are some things that you're doing, maybe just

mentally to prepare yourself or them for the road?

Yes.

So one of the things that we've tried to do for years

is for sure set a good example in the car.

Love that.

You know, parents, kids look to the parents, you know,

from the time their infants look to learn from their

parents about, you know, how to communicate, how to,

and at some point they start paying real close attention

to when you're driving.

And I don't know if you've ever had one of those kids

who's like, Mommy, you're going over the speed limit.

Kind of, you know, lots of, we had some of that

in our, in our house growing up.

But now that they're 15 and they'll be driving,

they'll be getting their permits within the next year.

We're doing more vocal, like talking about it in the car.

And like I was in the car a couple of days ago with my kid

and, you know, we approached a kind of a tricky

intersection situation.

And he's like, hey, Mom, who has the right of way here?

Which I, I, I perked up and I was like, huh, he's,

he's watching, he's watching how we behave.

And he's asking questions.

And he's thinking about, you know, who's supposed to go when,

what, and so I think,

I love that.

Yeah.

And I think we, we sometimes talk about the importance

of, of teaching kids to be good passengers, you know.

So you as a parent, be a good role model,

role, good driver, you know, limit distractions,

limit cell phone distractions, other distractions,

keep your hands on the wheel, you know, with vehicle

automation, moving in, I see lots of bad behavior now with,

with people who, who didn't necessarily have bad behavior

before because their vehicle will let them do it.

Yeah.

But modeling good behavior is something for sure we've been

doing, but we have been, my husband and I have been

talking about, you know, what we're going to do about a

car.

We, neither of us really have an appropriate teen

car.

I think they'll be fine in the, in the learner period when

they have supervised driving when, but when it's time for

them to do unsupervised driving, yeah, we're going to

have some, we're going to be looking at this list and

seeing if there is another option if we, and if we

need to trade in one of our cars or, or something

like that to, to help get a more appropriate one

for, for teens.

Yeah.

I love the idea of, I hadn't thought about that, of

talking them through those difficult situations and

just what that looks like.

Because if I'm thinking about even where I live, we

live on like a, close to our house, we have one of

those like divided highways.

So like you have to cross and then stop.

And I mean, and that, it uses a lot of my brain

power.

So as soon as you can start, and you can do

that with a kid who's super young.

We like, hey, just, you know, this is how

this kind of road works.

I think that's a really tangible, a really

tangible tip.

And even saying things like you, like you don't

even have to maybe lecture about it, but you

could say, oh, you could just verbally say what

you're already thinking about, like, oh, that

car's going too fast.

I can't, you know, jump out in front of him.

Yeah.

You know, just talking through your own

mental process for how you're making the

driving decisions.

Yeah.

I love that.

I think, if I think back to when I was

learning how to drive, one thing that my

parents did for me, which I really appreciated,

was we did get driving lessons, which I don't

think you need driving lessons.

I think that like you could also, I mean,

whatever.

I think, I don't think it hurt.

I think you could probably do it yourself if

you wanted.

But one thing that the instructor did that

I'll never forget is he took me to, I

don't know, I guess it was like a semi

abandoned road.

And but it was like, it was a big road.

And he goes, okay, once you get to 45 miles

per hour, and then once you slam on the

brakes as hard as you can.

And just like to, to have a good understanding

of like how quickly or not quickly my car

could stop was something that I'll never

forget.

And I'm really grateful that I just had those

experiences because you don't want the

first time your teen slams on the brake to

be a surprise.

A surprise.

So I just, I knew what it felt like.

And then, you know how, what's it called?

You'll know better than me when the

brake starts to pulse a little bit.

Oh, with the ABS.

ABS.

Thank you.

He's like, that's totally normal.

That's what it's supposed to feel like.

So it was just, that was a really good

exercise.

Because even now, like if we, if we head out

on the road and it's wintertime and there's,

you know, snow and potentially ice on the

road, sometimes I do a little brake check

right at the beginning just to, to get

a gauge of how, you know, how slippery

the roads are.

Good.

Yeah.

That's a good tip.

That's a really good tip.

I also think it's important when you're

thinking about, you know, not just the

drive, but like all things that, you

know, maybe a teen needs to be

prepared for when they hit the road.

Another very helpful thing my parents did is

they walked me through and we kind of

like role played, mock played, what

would happen if you got pulled over.

Okay.

Yeah.

Interesting.

If you get pulled over, like you go

here and then like, here's who you

call.

Here's what they'll ask for.

And like they had, we had everything in

the glove box.

Yeah.

And when I got pulled over, don't

get me wrong, I was super, super

scared, but at least I knew what to

expect and I wasn't, you know,

scrambling or crying thinking, you

know, I just, I had a good

understanding.

Like just preparing for all those

situations.

Another one, going through the car

wash.

That can be a really, that can be a

very intimidating thing that my

parents did not do.

Yes.

And I think the first time I went

through a car wash, it was, you

know, it was stressful.

Yes.

And pumping gas.

I can't wait.

I don't know when I'm going to let

my kids pump my gas, but I can't

wait till I have a child old

enough.

Probably like 13, 14, they can

start pumping gas, you think?

Yeah, I think so.

Yeah.

I'm excited for that.

I think that's also a really

important tip for them to learn how

to do.

Yes.

For sure.

Yeah.

So, but on the, on the like, the

breaking that you mentioned and

one of the things that's really

important, like once teens start

driving is when they're in that

supervised driving period to make

sure that they have all the

experiences, you know, all try

all the different things while

they're in that.

The night driving, the rain.

Yes.

That it's, you want, that

supervised driving period is the

safest period for teens.

Because once you get out of the

car, it's the supervisor, then

is when that, you know, it gets

into that really risky, risky

time.

So you want them to be as

prepared as possible and get as

much experience as possible.

And so on our website, we have

a guide for parents of teen

drivers.

And one of the things that we

have is like a driving skills

checklist for parents to do

with teens before they get out

of that supervised driving

period.

It's things like driving in rain,

driving at night, driving on, you

know, busy roads, highway

driving, of course, things like

that.

Oh, yeah.

I'm looking at the list right

now.

That is really good.

Yeah.

Backing out safely.

Right.

Turn on to a moderately busy

street.

Yeah.

This is really good.

Well, Jessica, this has been

so helpful.

The list, you guys, is 100%

worth checking out.

I mean, there's something for

everybody, which I really

appreciate that you guys have

such a comprehensive list.

And if I'm looking at...

I mean, yeah, I mean, I don't

think you can really go wrong.

I mean, it's...

I would say almost every

manufacturer's...

almost every manufacturer's

represented here, which feels

good.

Yes.

Feels really good.

Yes.

Well, Jessica, thank you so

much for joining the Carvel

Podcast yet again.

Thank you for having me.

Thank you so much for the

results for the delivery

drivers.

Maybe you'll have to come back

and share, because I feel like

that's a pretty interesting.

Yeah.

Okay, Jessica, before we let

you go, after a long day of,

you know, crash testing,

you've got two hungry teen boys

to feed, what are you ditching

the drive-thru with?

Well, so when I think of

ditching the drive-thru,

I'm, like, rolling in from

work and I need to just deal

with what's already in my

kitchen, you know, and

inevitably, like, some meat is

still frozen in the freezer

or something like that.

So one of my go-tos is things

that involve just eggs,

because I always have eggs.

Okay.

And I will say that, you know,

I had to ditch the drive-thru

in mind and somebody recently

did it on your...

Which was making basically

fancy ramen.

We do that all the time.

But...

Yum.

So then I had to think of

another one after that.

But another one we did just

right after I heard that episode

is one we do pretty regularly,

which is shakshuka,

which is, yeah,

which is basically...

I think it's like a...

The origin is maybe North

African, but it's used a lot

in lots of Middle Eastern

countries eat it.

But it's basically like a

spiced tomato sauce

with eggs poached in it,

and then you eat it with

bread, like pita bread

or something like that.

So...

Yum.

Yeah.

So it's basically like onion,

maybe a red pepper,

some garlic,

some crushed tomatoes,

some spices,

like paprika,

cumin,

something spicy,

like chili powder,

cayenne or something like that.

And then you

get all that going,

which takes no time at all.

And then you

put eggs in it

and poach them,

and then serve it just like that.

So it's basically eggs

and spicy tomato sauce

that you eat with.

So you're saying you just crack an egg

in this hot sauce

and it cooks like that?

Yes.

Yep.

That sounds...

And then, yeah,

serve it with some yummy bread.

Exactly.

Or you could even do...

If you wanted to do noodles, do noodles.

Exactly.

And when we made it the other day,

I, of course,

again,

like I walk in,

I'm looking like,

what do I have in my house

that I can make?

Yeah.

I only had one can

of crushed tomatoes.

I needed two.

So I actually

put a can of pumpkin in, too.

So it was...

It was a pumpkin.

It was a pumpkin tomato sauce.

It's like just super flexible.

No.

I'll tell you,

I have been...

If you need help

substituting lately,

are you a chat GPT girl?

I feel like you might be.

I sometimes play with it.

So the other day,

I was trying to make

like oatmeal cookies

or whatever,

oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

And I didn't have one of the ingredients.

So I asked chat GPT.

I'm like...

So I asked chat GPT

for a recipe.

And I'm like,

oh, I don't have that.

And they're like,

oh, we'll use this instead.

And I'm like, okay,

well, could I use that?

And they're like, yeah,

sure, it's just going to do this

to the recipe.

I'm like, okay,

I'll go for it.

And it was very helpful.

It was so...

It made me think of that.

Like when you're...

If you're cooking a recipe

and you don't know

what to substitute for,

ask chat.

Chat.

For sure.

Yeah.

When you open up the cabinet

and you're like,

okay, what can I make

then I'm sure chat GPT

would be helpful.

I wonder,

have you asked,

have you guys done any research

about what like chat

says about your cars?

No.

Maybe our communications

department has, but...

Or a teen.

Let's see if she

they quote you.

Sometimes I like to see

when they quote.

Are you kidding?

Here's what it says.

The best car for his teen

usually means finding

something that checks

for big boxes.

Save affordable,

easy to drive

and not too powerful.

Here's what experts

and IHS and consumer reports

tend to recommend.

Excellent.

Just what I want to see.

Good to see chats

not plagiarizing

because you got to watch her.

Sometimes she'll plagiarize

and sometimes I'll have to ask

or I'll like test it a lot.

I'll be like,

you know,

how do you fit

three car seats

in a Volkswagen Atlas?

And if she doesn't give me

credit,

I'll say,

where'd you get that info?

And then they'll say

the car mom.

You got to watch her.

Yes.

She can be tricky.

Yes.

Okay.

Well,

I'll try that.

I can't believe you just crack

an egg in tomato sauce.

I guess I don't really know

what a poached egg is,

but that's more

my personal problem.

I'll work on that.

Chat, GPT can help.

All right, Jessica,

thanks so much.

Thank you.

Bye.

Thank you for listening

to the carpool podcast

with Kelly and Liz.

Make sure you're subscribed

so you never miss an episode.

And if you enjoyed

riding with us,

tell everybody you know,

there's room in the car

for everyone.

Thank you.

PREPARING YOUR TEEN TO DRIVE w/ JESSICA JERMAKIAN from the IIHS

Hyundai Palisade

Ford Expedition

Nissan XTerra

Ford Bronco

Chrysler Pacifica

Ford Ranger

Porsche Cayenne

About this episode

Original notes