Death Rates Highest for Small Cars, Models With Powerful Engines: Study

What Car Shoppers Need to Know

• The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety released a report showing death rates for various vehicle segments and models.
• The highest death rates were among small cars and models with powerful engines.
• Other models had high rates of death for other motorists, such as heavy-duty trucks and mid-size SUVs.

Small cars and models with powerful engines are among the cars that kill people the most, according to a new IIHS report. Since 1989, IIHS has been analyzing driver death rates among vehicles every three years; this recent report is the second time the institute has also calculated death rates among other drivers.

Related: 4 Cars Earn Top Safety Pick+ Awards From Crash-Test Organization

The institute calculated these deaths by analyzing data on traffic fatalities over the period of 2021-24 from vehicles with model years of 2023 or earlier for estimated risks. Models from as far back as 2020 were also included, but only if “the vehicles were not substantially redesigned over the intervening period.” For a vehicle to be included on these lists, IIHS says a vehicle must have 100,000 registered vehicle years of exposure from 2021-24 or at least 20 deaths.

IIHS says that across all makes and models, the “average driver death rate was 37 drivers per million registration years.” Some models that appear on these lists may surprise you. Here are the findings:

Cars With Highest Rates of Driver Deaths

The two worst performers were both small cars. IIHS says the model with the highest rate of driver deaths is the Kia Rio. Kia’s discontinued subcompact, since replaced by the K4, had a rate of 170 deaths per million registrations. This was followed closely by another discontinued subcompact, Nissan’s Versa, with 164 deaths per million registrations. Another surprise: Not a single vehicle on the above list was a pickup truck.

It’s important to keep in mind that IIHS says these two models taking the top spots isn’t a reflection of their safety ratings; rather, it’s other, driver-focused factors (such as gender and age).

Additional Findings

Highest Rates of Other-Driver Deaths

Other vehicles performed worse with the highest rates of deaths among other drivers. Taking the top spot on that list is the full-size heavy-duty Ram 3500, specifically the crew-cab, long-bed configuration. IIHS says this big truck had 204 deaths of other drivers per million registrations. The Ram was followed by the Dodge Charger, which took the second and third spot. The agency says the Charger and other muscle cars on this list are a reflection of how they’re marketed because they attract aggressive drivers.

“Powerful engines and marketing that attracts aggressive drivers is the issue for sports cars and muscle cars. They’re dangerous mainly because of how they’re driven,” said IIHS President David Harkey.

Lowest Rates of Driver Deaths

Other models fared so well that some didn’t have any deaths, including the Audi Q7, BMW X7 and Chevrolet Tahoe. It should be noted that models like the X7 and Volkswagen Atlas appear on multiple lists; the institute pointed out that 18 of the 20 models on the list of vehicles with the lowest driver death rates were SUVs, nine of which are mid-size.

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