Vehicle death rates tell a story that crash testing can’t. We dig through the data to answer your burning questions.
on the market, but is one category of vehicles safer than the other? Crash test results can't be compared across segments, as kinetic energy is directly tied to vehicle weight. On the other hand, vehicle death rates can be evaluated across size categories.That being said, even death rate statistics don't tell the whole story, as they don't factor in the speeds at which people in different vehicle segments drive, or age, gender, or the types of roads they use.
Likewise, there are only 20 vehicles with fewer than nine driver deaths per million registered vehicle years, with the data limited to the 2014-2017 model years. Of those 20, only four fall into the small category , while the rest are midsize or larger. Of the 20 models with the highest death rates, 15 of them are classified as small or mini. There is an obvious trend in the data that yes, drivers are less likely to die in larger vehicles.
Why is that the case? In short, a heavier vehicle carries more momentum than a lighter one. Kinetic energy is equal to the product of half an object's mass and the square of its velocity, and in a multivehicle collision, it's the lighter car that will feel the effect of all that energy when each vehicle rapidly decelerates.Although we'd love to tell you lightweight sports cars are the safest cars on the road, unfortunately that's not the case according to the data.
The most deadly subsegment of vehicles is mini four-door cars, which have 78 deaths per 10 billion miles. Meanwhile, the worst SUV segment reports 40 fatalities and the most dangerous pickups show 23 deaths per 10 billion miles.That being said, there's one segment of vehicles for which the IIHS reported fewer fatalities than cars, trucks,SUVs. Of course, we're talking about minivans.
Finally, no matter what size vehicle you're driving, there's no doubt that a properly maintained car, truck, or SUV being operated safely for the conditions and with an alert, attentive driver behind the wheel are key ingredients to safety.