Car safety is a huge concern for all drivers nowadays. Safety, however, is a major concern especially to parents who are seeing their teens get behind the wheel of a vehicle for the first time.

According to a series of reports, automakers have been designing new systems to keep drivers, occupants and even pedestrian safer. However, accidents still claim lives of teens more often than any other factor. Because of that, safety advocates have been urging the automobile industry to start focusing on this age group, which is much more vulnerable than others.

According to a recent study carried out by the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Research Institute, one in every five teens who are in ninth through eleventh grades have been involved in auto accidents at least once in the past year. The research shows that this result is alarming since drivers aged 16 to 17 are seven times more likely to be involved in serious accidents per mile driven than drivers who are in their 40s, 50s or even 60s.

After Congress enacted National Teen Driver Safety Week, organizations are raising awareness about teen and car safety by promoting events and educational programs that hope to make teen drivers aware of the dangers associated with distractions while behind the wheel.

Now, automakers have also decided to participate and are including services that help parents to keep track of their teens by equipping vehicles with in-car monitoring systems that increase driver safety and make sure teens are safe while operating the car.

Some of the most popular systems are the OnStar Family Link, according to experts. This system works by allowing parents to log in to the Family Link website and checking the teen’s car location, which is made possible by OnStar’s Vehicle Locate feature. Subscribers of this service will receive emails and text messages showing where the vehicle is located as often as the subscriber prefers to be alerted.

OnStar Family link can be found in all newer GM models.

Another program that could help parents to control their teen’s safety is Ford MyKey. The system works by letting parents control their teens’ Ford vehicle’s speed and even audio volume limits, which could help to prevent accidents caused by speeding and distracted teens. Parents with the help of this system could also block satellite radio channels that are explicit. Experts say that, with Ford MyKey, the vehicle will ring an alerting sound if passengers don’t fasten their seatbelts. Parents will also be able to ensure their teens’ car is running the Active Park Assist, traction control and blind spot warning.

Hyundai also has a system that allows parents to limit the speed of their teens’ vehicles by offering parents the choice of using Hyundai Blue Link’s Geo-Fence, Curfew and Speed Alert systems. The device also allows parents to define a curfew time and the area the vehicle is allowed to be used in. If any rules are broken, parents are alerted via text message, emails or phone calls.

With the increasing number of fatal accidents caused by teen drivers, safety should be a subject that is discussed more often. Hopefully, more automakers will come up with safety systems that will help to keep teens safe while behind the wheel.

For more details on these devices, click here for the full article.