Buying a car requires weighing the importance of several different factors, from miles per gallon to a sleek design to the all-important price. Chief among these considerations is safety: In fact, a 2022 survey conducted by Statista found that consumers ranked safety the second-most important factor in buying a car, only trailing behind fuel efficiency by 1 percentage point.
For many drivers, safety really comes into play in the event that you get into a crash. Ideally, you want a vehicle that will protect you from harm, even if you end up hitting another car or an obstacle. To find out which cars on the market statistically performed worse in accidents, Stacker used data from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety to find the 20 passenger vehicles with the highest driver death rates.
Death rates are measured as estimated driver deaths per 1 million registered vehicle years, each of which is measured as one vehicle registered for one year. Rates are also adjusted based on driver ages and genders. Any ties were broken by the rate of multiple-vehicle crashes that resulted in driver deaths. The overall death rate for passenger vehicles is about 36 per million registration years, or 26 per 10 billion vehicle miles traveled, according to the data.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety released the data in May 2020, primarily comparing 2017 vehicle models, but expanded results to earlier model years for more data in cases where the vehicle wasn't substantially redesigned during that time. Death rate estimates were created using statistical modeling, which is prone to some level of error: Confidence interval ranges are provided, and the actual values have a 95% chance of being within that range based on the institute's analysis.
Keep reading to discover which models have the highest driver death rates—it might be important information to consider next time you take a car out for a test drive.
- Body type: Small SUV
- Driver deaths: 67* per million registered vehicle years
--- 45 in multiple-vehicle crashes
--- 21 in single-vehicle crashes
--- 5 in single-vehicle rollovers
*95% confidence range: 12-122
- Body type: Midsize 4-door car
- Driver deaths: 68* per million registered vehicle years
--- 33 in multiple-vehicle crashes
--- 38 in single-vehicle crashes
--- 4 in single-vehicle rollovers
*95% confidence range: 27-109
- Body type: Midsize 4-door car
- Driver deaths: 68* per million registered vehicle years
--- 35 in multiple-vehicle crashes
--- 33 in single-vehicle crashes
--- 14 in single-vehicle rollovers
*95% confidence range: 34-102
- Body type: Small 4-door car
- Driver deaths: 68* per million registered vehicle years
--- 48 in multiple-vehicle crashes
--- 19 in single-vehicle crashes
--- 9 in single-vehicle rollovers
*95% confidence range: 52-84
- Body type: Small station wagon
- Driver deaths: 70* per million registered vehicle years
--- 50 in multiple-vehicle crashes
--- 19 in single-vehicle crashes
--- 10 in single-vehicle rollovers
*95% confidence range: 52-87
- Body type: Mini 4-door car
- Driver deaths: 72* per million registered vehicle years
--- 52 in multiple-vehicle crashes
--- 18 in single-vehicle crashes
--- 5 in single-vehicle rollovers
*95% confidence range: 28-115
- Body type: Small SUV
- Driver deaths: 73* per million registered vehicle years
--- 40 in multiple-vehicle crashes
--- 37 in single-vehicle crashes
--- 20 in single-vehicle rollovers
*95% confidence range: 32-114
- Body type: Small station wagon
- Driver deaths: 74* per million registered vehicle years
--- 59 in multiple-vehicle crashes
--- 13 in single-vehicle crashes
--- 13 in single-vehicle rollovers
*95% confidence range: 36-111
- Body type: Small 4-door car
- Driver deaths: 81* per million registered vehicle years
--- 53 in multiple-vehicle crashes
--- 26 in single-vehicle crashes
--- 11 in single-vehicle rollovers
*95% confidence range: 65-96
- Body type: Midsize sports car
- Driver deaths: 81* per million registered vehicle years
--- 58 in multiple-vehicle crashes
--- 23 in single-vehicle crashes
--- 12 in single-vehicle rollovers
*95% confidence range: 43-119
- Body type: Mini station wagon
- Driver deaths: 81* per million registered vehicle years
--- 64 in multiple-vehicle crashes
--- 17 in single-vehicle crashes
--- 9 in single-vehicle rollovers
*95% confidence range: 41-121
- Body type: Mini 4-door car
- Driver deaths: 87* per million registered vehicle years
--- 51 in multiple-vehicle crashes
--- 38 in single-vehicle crashes
--- 0 in single-vehicle rollovers
*95% confidence range: 40-134
- Body type: Small 4-door car
- Driver deaths: 88* per million registered vehicle years
--- 49 in multiple-vehicle crashes
--- 42 in single-vehicle crashes
--- 14 in single-vehicle rollovers
*95% confidence range: 66-111
- Body type: Small 4-door car
- Driver deaths: 89* per million registered vehicle years
--- 63 in multiple-vehicle crashes
--- 24 in single-vehicle crashes
--- 2 in single-vehicle rollovers
*95% confidence range: 64-114
- Body type: Small 4-door car
- Driver deaths: 89* per million registered vehicle years
--- 71 in multiple-vehicle crashes
--- 15 in single-vehicle crashes
--- 9 in single-vehicle rollovers
*95% confidence range: 44-133
- Body type: Mini 2-door car
- Driver deaths: 95* per million registered vehicle years
--- 60 in multiple-vehicle crashes
--- 38 in single-vehicle crashes
--- 37 in single-vehicle rollovers
*95% confidence range: 25-165
- Body type: Small station wagon
- Driver deaths: 96* per million registered vehicle years
--- 80 in multiple-vehicle crashes
--- 12 in single-vehicle crashes
--- 7 in single-vehicle rollovers
*95% confidence range: 65-127
- Body type: Small 4-door car
- Driver deaths: 98* per million registered vehicle years
--- 64 in multiple-vehicle crashes
--- 34 in single-vehicle crashes
--- 10 in single-vehicle rollovers
*95% confidence range: 64-132
- Body type: Mini 4-door car
- Driver deaths: 116* per million registered vehicle years
--- 85 in multiple-vehicle crashes
--- 28 in single-vehicle crashes
--- 9 in single-vehicle rollovers
*95% confidence range: 74-158
- Body type: Mini 4-door car
- Driver deaths: 141* per million registered vehicle years
--- 98 in multiple-vehicle crashes
--- 46 in single-vehicle crashes
--- 13 in single-vehicle rollovers
*95% confidence range: 94-189
Data reporting by Paxtyn Merten. Story editing by Jeff Inglis. Copy editing by Tim Bruns.
