Your 16-year-old aced the three-point turn, passed his driver's test and now he's asking for the keys to the car. It's a right of passage most parents dread, and rightly so.

Car crashes are the leading cause of death for 16- to 20-year-olds.

Sixteen-year-olds are especially dangerous. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has found drivers age 17 have roughly one-third the number of accidents as teens just one year younger.

With those grim statistics in mind, insurance companies have started to experiment with global-positioning satellite devices that allow parents to keep tabs on a young driver's speed and whereabouts, in hopes of reducing accidents by keeping the driver in check, almost as if the parents were still riding along.

At the end of this month, Seattle-based Safeco Insurance will roll out a teen GPS tracking program in the 44 states where it does business, including Pennsylvania.

The company decided to offer the program after getting favorable results with a six-month pilot.

"Parents have been really pleased," Safeco Vice President Jim Havens said, although "teens quite frankly haven't been thrilled."

But they have warmed up to the technology after realizing that following the rules earned them more lenient driving privileges, Mr. Havens said.

The system notifies parents by phone, text-message or e-mail when the teen exceeds a preset limit or ventures outside a designated area. Parents also can go online to get an exact location on the vehicle.

They could know, for example, when their child arrives at school, if he leaves school during the day, or if he makes it safely to a football game.

Dubbed "Teensurance," the package also includes features such as 24-hour roadside assistance in case of car trouble and the ability to unlock a car door remotely by calling an 800 number and entering a password if the keys are locked in the car.

Users also can go online and complete a safety questionnaire that predicts how the driver is apt to behave when behind the wheel.

The American Insurance Association has applauded Safeco's program, saying it has the potential to reduce teenage driving accidents and deaths.

The GPS tracking device, roughly the size of a deck of cards, is installed at no charge under the dashboard by Safeco's partner in the program, Seaguard Electronics in Irvine, Calif.

Subscribers pay a $15-a-month service fee, a discounted rate set for two years, Mr. Havens said.

Motorists who buy GPS systems on their own typically pay several hundred dollars or more, plus monthly fees.

In April, another big insurer, New York-based AIG Auto Insurance, teamed up with MobileTeenGPS to launch a test in Pennsylvania and five other states. The New York-based insurer recently expanded the pilot program and plans to enroll up to 300 customers nationwide.

The feedback so far has been positive, AIG spokesman Joe Norton said.

"There have been a few cases where customers indicated the GPS system was the reason they chose to renew [their auto policy] with us," he said.

AIG won't say how much policyholders in the pilot are charged, only that they are offered a "substantial discount" off the device and monthly service fees.

Worth a discount?

For now, it's unclear if such systems translate into fewer accidents.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is researching the tracking programs and expects to release the results later this year.

"These programs hold a lot of promise because they essentially extend the period of parental supervision. The parent is still supervising even though the parent is not in the car," said Russ Rader, spokesman for the institute.

"If a teen knows mom or dad may find out what they are doing, they may be less likely to speed and take risks behind the wheel."

Safeco plans to analyze its own data and may offer policyholders discounts if it turns out GPS systems make participants safer drivers, Mr. Havens said.

"Intuitively, we believe it will lower the number of accidents," he said.

"Once we have data to suggest it is worth a discount, we will go to state insurance departments and request a discount."

To address any privacy concerns, Safeco won't have access to individual records and won't share the information with other parties, Mr. Havens said..

Paul Stephens, policy director at the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse in San Diego, said he has no major concerns with the device, as long as teenagers know they are being tracked.

"If they are aware, and if that's the condition of the child operating the parents' motor vehicle, I don't have the same level of concern as if it were done surreptitiously," he said.

Lake Oswego, Ore., resident Guy Thompson enrolled in Safeco's GPS pilot program about two weeks ago to help keep tabs on his daughter, Maggie, who's been driving for about four months.

"It's been great," Mr. Thompson said. "It tells you where she is, what direction she's going and how fast she's going."

He programmed the device to alert him whenever Maggie goes faster than 45 mph.

The first time she slipped up, he let it slide. But when he got a second alert, he gave her a call.

"It hasn't gone off since then," Mr. Thompson said.