Two Thirds of Teen Drivers Don't Know Basic Auto Repair

September 19, 2011 RSS Feed Print

About two thirds of teen drivers are "clueless" or have "average" knowledge when it comes to basic car maintenance, according to a parental survey released Wednesday that was conducted by AutoMD.com, an automotive repair website.

Two in three teens don't know how to change a flat tire, check or change the oil, or jumpstart a battery, according to the survey. They are also unable to identify basic car parts or perform emergency roadside repairs.

According to the American Driver and Traffic Safety Education Association, only 15 percent of public school students take driver's education classes in high school, compared to 95 percent of students in the 1970s. Though most states require students to pass a driver's ed class before obtaining a license, a majority of teens attend private driving schools. As states and counties face budget cuts, the subject has largely disappeared from high school curricula nationwide.

[Read about new legislation that would pump $60 billion into schools.]

Sixty-two percent of the parents surveyed—some 4,000 self-identified parents of teen drivers who visited automotive websites between late July and early September—say it is "extremely important" for teens to be able to identify basic car parts.

Four fifths of those surveyed said that their children learn the majority of their auto repair knowledge from their parents. Just 6 percent of parents surveyed said their teen learned enough about auto repair from their driver's ed class.

See how your school stacks up in our rankings of Best High Schools. Have something of interest to share? Send your news to us at highschoolnotes@usnews.com.

Tags:: driving,; safety,; students,; high school,; teens

« Previous Post Next Post »

Reader Comments Read all comments (3)

Add Your Thoughts Comment Name State Email

Please enter the two words below into the text field underneath the image.

Your comment will be posted immediately, unless it is spam or contains profanity. For more information, please see our Comments FAQ.

I can only speak from my experience on this one but I was absolutely clueless when I first started attending drivers ed courses. Looking back on the knowledge shared with me I can now say that I have used a good deal of that to not only be a cautious driver but also to be a defensive driver allowing me to avoid a handful of potentially nasty accidents. I will also admit that I am not that skilled in the area of automotive repair though I have been going to great mechanic for years, which has saved me a notable amount of money on repais and believe me, even though I am a loyal customer I shop around (www.300auto.com). It is sad to see that most teens do not know diddly squat about though not surprising.

www.300auto.com of CO 3:48PM August 23, 2012

Look at if this way - with a 50-50 gender distribution, that's 32% of teen males and 100% of teen females. Viewed that way, doesn't seem thy unlikely. I know it's not 100%, but it's statistically the same.
This reporter must have never taken driver's ed. I did not learn any of this in driver's Ed.

K Ward of OR 11:03PM September 19, 2011

Hold on a sec... If "average" is included in the description the headline is unremarkable. Assume an essentially normal distribution of a set of random numbers, roughly a third of them will be average, a third will be well below average and a third will be well above average. Well, the claim is that two thirds are "somewhat or completely clueless or average".
That said, maybe it is a good thing that kids be less centered around cars in their lives. I admit, I'm a car guy to the point of being involved in local motorsports, but I wish that most people weren't so focused on cars. Whatever your politics the idea of kids driving less and walking more is probably a good thing...

LRichardson of OR 3:10PM September 19, 2011