When your kids get their driver's license, you have to take it on faith that they'll drive safely and responsibly, even if you have some doubts. But there is a way to keep your kids honest, especially when you're not along for the ride.

It's a simple computer chip that plugs into the family car and can virtually put you in the driver's seat with your teenage son or daughter.

Jeff Leclaire, 17, placed the car chip on his family's van and drove the vehicle for several days.

He said he drove the car as he normally would, but for many teenage drivers, normal means jackrabbit starts, heavy braking, a high rate of speeding tickets and accidents, according to insurance companies.

The car chip gives parents a way to monitor their kids' driving habits and to get the kind of evidence on some bad driving habits that makes it tough for excuses such as, "That wasn't me" or "The cops made a mistake."

The device plugs under the dash and taps into the computer system in cars built since 1996.

When connected to a home computer, the device displays a complete rundown on Jeff's driving over five days. Jeff said the van was slow and thirsty.

"It is a beast, and it hogs gas," Jeff said.

It's a guzzler, yes, but it's not that slow, according to the car chip. The fastest he went was 89 mph. While his father thinks that's too fast, Jeff said it's normal. There are several minutes where he's at speeds of more than 75 mph -- the legal limit on any freeway in Colorado.

"He was going faster than I thought he would," said Mike Leclaire, Jeff's father.

Mike Leclaire could follow his minute-by-minute driving. On trip 15, for example, Jeff had a lot of fast takeoffs, followed by hard braking, the kind that are bad for gas mileage but common among teenagers.

Still, Jeff's father said he was kind of relieved at what he saw.

"Yeah, I thought it would be worse. I thought there would be more speeding and more jackrabbit starts," said Mike LeClaire.

But Jeff said that even if the chip was placed in the car all the time and he knew it was there, it wouldn't change any of his driving habits.

The car chip has some limitations. For example, it doesn't tell you whether the teenage driver is wearing a seat belt. The smaller car chip checks 75 hours of driving and the chip can be reused after the information is downloaded.

It costs $75 and is available at some auto parts store or on the Internet at DavisNet.com.

The car chip also does a lot of checking to warn you of possible engine problems down the road. So it can keep tabs on the car and the kid.