Teach Your Teen The Best Drivers Seat Position

Seth Smiley here from the Smiley Law Firm with today’s edition of the Parents of Teen Drivers Facebook Group. Our topic is, “Teach your teen the best driver’s seat position.”

It is a sad reality that distracted driving causes far too many accidents among teen drivers, and getting the seat position correct before they set off can help avoid that. I think it is vital that when your teen gets in the car, they automatically make all of the adjustments to mirrors, etc. but they also get the seat correctly set up. Often, people lean way too far back or are too close to the wheel, or in a wonky position without realizing it. Nowadays, we can program seats, which makes it easier to set things up the right way. The first thing your teen driver should do is sit in the seat, raise their steering wheel, and sit with their butt all the way in with their backs pressed right into the seat. Just nice and comfortable.

Next, you should consider the knees, adjust until your knees are slightly bent so you can comfortably reach the accelerator or brake if they’re fully depressed. The next consideration is the elbows. They should be slightly bent and placed at ten and two on the wheel. The shoulders should be touching the back of the seat in a comfortable position and in full reaction mode. The top of the headrest should ideally be about level with the top of the head, and you often see them set way too high or low. The headrests are important as before their invention, an auto accident would often lead to a severe neck injury, and they are effective at preventing that.

It would be best if you taught your teen to add all of these settings into the memory and make sure they never make adjustments while driving. That’s a huge distraction and a potential cause of an accident. If they ever need to make adjustments while on the road, tell them to pull over as it is better to be safe and take a little extra time. Finally, you want to make sure the steering wheel is tilted so that they can easily see the gauges between the wheel and see the full element of the road above it. It sounds like common sense, but often folks have it set up wrong, and they have to turn their head to view the speedometer, etc. All of these steps are necessary to set your teen up for success and a safe drive.

If you have any questions or input about our topic, “Teach your teen the best driver’s seat position,” please comment below.