Muscle cars and small cars have some highest death rates among 2020 model year vehicles, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
The safety organization, also known as the IIHS, which is supported by vehicle insurers and insurance associations, has been tracking driver fatality rates roughly every three years since 1989. This year for the first time IIHS also calculated the best and worst models according to the number of drivers in other vehicles killed in crashes with them, the group noted.
Tracking death rates can be more useful than crash ratings, as the latter compares vehicles within a class, while the former covers vehicles across classes and takes into account a vehicle’s typical driver profile. Men are more frequently involved in collisions than women are, and older drivers are more likely to die in a collision than younger ones, both of which may be seen in the vehicle ratings.
Which cars top the list
While IIHS has long calculated driver death rates by model, for its latest study of 2020 models, the safety organization also calculated how often drivers of other vehicles were killed in collisions with each model of car.
Vehicles from the 2020 model year had to have 100,000 registered vehicle years or at least 20 deaths in the four-year study period to be included. Results from as far back as 2017 are included to increase the survey sample size if the vehicle wasn’t substantially redesigned during that time.
Six of the 21 vehicles with the highest driver death rates for model year 2020 are variants of the Chevrolet Camaro, Dodge Challenger, Dodge Charger and Ford Mustang, while eight others are small cars or minicars, with the Mitsubishi Mirage topping the IIHS’s deadliest cars for drivers list. Meanwhile, 18 of the 23 vehicles with the lowest driver death rates are minivans or SUVs, and 12 are luxury vehicles.
“We typically find that smaller vehicles have high driver death rates because they don’t provide as much protection, especially in crashes with larger, heavier SUVs and pickups,” said IIHS President David Harkey. “The muscle cars on this list highlight that a vehicle’s image and how it is marketed can also contribute to crash risk.”
Vehicles with the highest death rates
The top 10 vehicles with the highest rates of driver deaths include the Chevrolet Camaro coupe, Kia Forte, Chevrolet Camaro convertible, Nissan Altima, Dodge Charger Hemi, Kia Rio sedan, Chevrolet Spark, Hyundai Accent, Dodge Challenger 2WD, Mitsubishi Mirage hatchback and Mitsubishi Mirage G4 at 205 deaths per million.
The top 10 vehicles that have the highest death rates for drivers of other vehicles include the Ram 1500 Crew Cab short bed 2WD, Dodge Charger 2WD, Ford F-250 Crew Cab 4WD, Ram 2500 Crew Cab short bed 4WD, Kia Rio sedan, Kia Optima, Ram 2500 Mega Cab 4WD, Ford F-350 Crew Cab 4WD, Dodge Charger HEMI 2WD, with the Ram 3500 Crew Cab long bed 4WD topping the list at 189 deaths per million.
Vehicles with the lowest death rates
Conversely, the top 10 lowest rates of driver deaths include the Lexus RX 350 4WD, GMC Canyon Crew Cab 4WD, Volvo XC90 4WD, Nissan Murano 2WD, Toyota C-HR, Audi Q5 4WD, Nissan Pathfinder 2WD, Mercedes-Benz E-Class, Lexus ES 350 with the BMW X3 4WD topping the list with no deaths per million.
The top 10 vehicles that have the lowest death rates for drivers of other vehicles include the Honda HR-V 4WD, Chevrolet Trax 4WD, Chevrolet Bolt, Porsche Macan, Volvo XC60 4WD, Toyota RAV4 hybrid 4WD, Subaru Ascent, Acura MDX 4WD, Mercedes-Benz E-Class sedan 4WD with the Buick Encore 4WD topping the list at six deaths per million.
The lists of vehicles with the lowest driver and other-driver death rates have nine models in common, six of them being luxury vehicles. Those are the Acura MDX 4WD, Audi Q5 4WD, Chevrolet Traverse 4WD, Lexus RX 350 4WD, Mercedes-Benz E-Class sedan 4WD, Porsche Macan, Subaru Ascent, Toyota C-HR and Volvo XC60 4WD.
“The models that rank among the best and worst performers on both lists point to the unfortunate fact that vehicle cost remains a factor in road safety,” Harkey said.
Beyond the tangible
The preponderance of luxury vehicles with the lowest death rates points to the fact the majority of luxury cars come standard with crash avoidance systems and other high-tech safety features, as do the Subarus, that consistently place high on both lists.
In contrast, nearly all of the worst performers, many of which also don’t receive a satisfactory rating in at least one IIHS crash test, provide collision avoidance as an optional feature.
Yet surprisingly, the difference in vehicles between best and worst isn’t as dramatic as you’d expect.
As the IIHS points out, there isn’t a huge difference between the 275-305 horsepower provided by the entry-level Camaro, Challenger, Charger and Mustang, models that fare the worst, and the 241-252 horsepower provided by the Audi A4 and Mercedes-Benz E-Class, models that fare best. The difference comes down to image. Easy driving and comfort are linked with luxury cars, while drag strips and ground shaking power are linked to muscle cars.
“These two lists illustrate some of the intangibles of crash risk,” Harkey said. “We can measure horsepower and weight and test for crashworthiness. However, the deadly record of these muscle cars suggests that their history and marketing may be encouraging more aggressive driving.”