Products to Spy on Teen Drivers

Worried about your teenager's driving habits? New devices you plug into your dashboard can keep track of your novice driver by monitoring hard acceleration, high speeds and short stops.

After the gadgets record data, you connect them to your computer to see the results. The Good Housekeeping engineers installed two monitoring devices to see which worked better.

The tiny Carchip E/X by Davis International ($179; www.davisnet.com) was easy to install and use. Plus, there's no cable running from the connector to the data collection box, so your teen won't even know it's there.

The R-S 1000 by Road Safety International ($280; www.roadsafety.com) was pricier, but included additional features, like an alarm that sounds when the driver goes over a certain speed. But installation and downloading were trickier, and since the cable was visible, your teen will definitely know he or she is being watched. Both monitors work with any car manufactured since 1996.