Is Your Vehicle Deadly?

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https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/driver-death-rates-remain-high-among-small-cars

some excerpts:

Quote
...Despite manufacturers' efforts to make them safer, the smallest late-model cars remain the most dangerous, according to the most recent driver death rates calculated by the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety. Small cars and minicars accounted for 15 of the 20 models with the highest death rates for model year 2017, while nearly half of the 20 models with the lowest death rates were luxury SUVs...

...Very large SUVs have the lowest overall death rate of any vehicle category with 15 fatalities per million registered vehicle years. Minicars have the highest at 82....[Very large pickups have a death rate of 27.5, very large luxury sedans have a death rate of 20].

...The average driver death rate for all 2017 models increased to 36 deaths, compared with 30 for 2014 models....

...The death rates for 2017 models vary widely from 0 for seven models to 141 for the worst performer, the 2017 Ford Fiesta...

... nine of the 20 models with the lowest death rates are luxury SUVs, two more are midsize luxury cars, and four others are minivans or very large SUVs...

...Notably, two small cars defy the average for their size and class, whether driver death rates are measured against registered vehicle years or miles traveled. The Volkswagen Golf and the Nissan Leaf have death rates of 0 and 5 per million registered vehicle years, respectively. Their rates per 10 billion miles were the same. For comparison, the overall rate for small cars was 61 deaths per million vehicle years and 45 per 10 billion miles....

...The Golf's results are particularly remarkable, considering that the 2014 version was among the worst performers, with a death rate of 63 per million vehicle years, prior to a redesign for the 2015 model year.


VW did something right with the redesign of the Golf for 2015.
 
The Audi E-Tron is a top safety pick:
https://www.iihs.org/ratings/vehicle/audi/e-tron-4-door-suv/2019

[Linked Image]


As is the Q7:
[Linked Image]
 
Originally Posted by SubLGT
https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/driver-death-rates-remain-high-among-small-cars

some excerpts:

...Despite manufacturers' efforts to make them safer, the smallest late-model cars remain the most dangerous, according to the most recent driver death rates calculated by the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety. Small cars and minicars accounted for 15 of the 20 models with the highest death rates for model year 2017, while nearly half of the 20 models with the lowest death rates were luxury SUVs...

VW did something right with the redesign of the Golf for 2015.


This is a textbook example of why I don't question facts necessarily but I am very suspicious of the "conclusions" drawn from those facts.

Its like defining a snake as the most "deadly". Deadly as in poison lethality, deadly as in no effective treatment, deadly as in number of bites on humans, deadly as a ratio of population? ( and who knows how many more qualifiers)

Occam would probably say the smaller car has less mass and less internal space so with all other things equal would likely sustain the greatest damage in an event thus affecting the occupants more.

But that might indicate "smaller cars" are less safe ( the greenies don't want to hear that) so they make up more meaningless conclusions based on unlike data that is truly random or incomparable otherwise until they get the results they paid for.

Almost like deaths from certain diseases are counted too.
 
You can't beat physics. Engineering and safety features go a long way, but in a head-on crash, mass is pretty important.
 
Originally Posted by fsdork
You can't beat physics. Engineering and safety features go a long way, but in a head-on crash, mass is pretty important.


Watch out, "they" will hear you
 
Problem is they don't hit a bigger car in those tests, but a barrier that doesn't add energy in the mix. Those ratings are valid only at those speeds and against similar weight cars. If only we'd always hit cars lighter than our own...

But it sure beats a similar car with low ratings...

Maybe theres more golf sized cars on the roads these days, or more golfs are driving in areas with generally smaller cars?
 
I have two 2015 Golf's. Happy to hear about their safety record but in a crash I would prefer a much larger vehicle.
 
Nothing new here. Small cars have always been less safe than large cars.
 
Individual death rates by make and model (2015-2017) can be found here:

https://www.iihs.org/ratings/driver-death-rates-by-make-and-model


The midsize 2015-2017 Subaru Legacy has a overall death rate of 14

The small 2015-2017 Subaru WRX has a death rate of 54

The very large 2015-2017 Chevy Silverado 3500 Crew Cab 4WD has a death rate of 15

The very large 2014-2017 RAM 3500 Crew Cab Long Bed 4WD has a death rate of 32

The very large 2014-2017 RAM 2500 Crew Cab Long Bed 4WD has a death rate of 63




Quote
Rates are given as the number of driver deaths per million registered vehicle years. (A registered vehicle year is one vehicle registered for one year.) To increase the exposure and thereby improve the accuracy of the calculations, results are included for the previous three model years if the vehicle wasn't substantially redesigned during that time. These calculations take into account only deaths of drivers, not passengers, since every vehicle that crashes has a driver, but not every vehicle has passengers.
 
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This is probably skewed as well by where these vehicles are driven: small car = large city, high traffic, higher accident rate. Not a popular choice in rural areas, as opposed to the larger SUVs and trucks that are spread out but much higher in popularity in areas where accidents are likely not as common.
 
Originally Posted by tbm5690
This is probably skewed as well by where these vehicles are driven: small car = large city, high traffic, higher accident rate. Not a popular choice in rural areas, as opposed to the larger SUVs and trucks that are spread out but much higher in popularity in areas where accidents are likely not as common.


That's a logical thought, but a higher accident rate doesn't necessarily mean a higher fatality rate. The attached is an excerpt from a report on 2017 collision stats in Alberta. We see in this case that although there is a far higher number of overall and injury collisions in urban areas, the fatalities are heavily skewed to rural areas.

[Linked Image]
 
Originally Posted by SeaJay
Life is full of risks, drive what makes you feel the safest happiest for your budget.

thumbsup2.gif
 
I can now confidently drive like an idiot in my Outback!
wink.gif


Vehicle Subaru Outback
Overall death rate (with confidence limits) 3 (0-6)
Multi-vehicle crash death rate 2
Single-vehicle crash death rate 1
Rollover death rate 0
Model year span 2015-17

I'm pretty sure the Focus is as safe as a wet cardboard box, soaked in gas...
 
Originally Posted by fsdork
You can't beat physics. Engineering and safety features go a long way, but in a head-on crash, mass is pretty important.

^^ This ^^. Mini vs F250......
07.gif
 
Originally Posted by gman2304
Originally Posted by fsdork
You can't beat physics. Engineering and safety features go a long way, but in a head-on crash, mass is pretty important.

^^ This ^^. Mini vs F250......
07.gif


If you know what type of potentially deadly accident you are going to have then you can pick your vehicle... Somehow all of the very large pickups have higher death rates than a Mini in the 2017 stats, so clearly mass isn't everything.
 
Originally Posted by IndyIan
Originally Posted by gman2304
fsdork said:
You can't beat physics. Engineering and safety features go a long way, but in a head-on crash, mass is pretty important.

^^ This ^^. Mini vs F250......
07.gif


If you know what type of potentially deadly accident you are going to have then you can pick your vehicle... Somehow all of the very large pickups have higher death rates than a Mini in the 2017 stats, so clearly mass isn't everything.
[/quote.

I've bought nothing but full size vehicles for the last 25 years, so I have as best I could "as far as affordability and safety goes" planned for a worst case scenario in a crash. Respectfully, can you post a link to those 2017 stats and the test criteria that show a mini having a lower death rate vs large pickups?
 
I've never considered the opinions of the Safety Gestapo at IIHS, and I'm not about to start now. At 175" long my F22 is the biggest car in my fleet. I guess I'll just continue to live on the ragged edge of danger.
 
Originally Posted by gman2304
Originally Posted by IndyIan
Originally Posted by gman2304
fsdork said:
You can't beat physics. Engineering and safety features go a long way, but in a head-on crash, mass is pretty important.

^^ This ^^. Mini vs F250......
07.gif


If you know what type of potentially deadly accident you are going to have then you can pick your vehicle... Somehow all of the very large pickups have higher death rates than a Mini in the 2017 stats, so clearly mass isn't everything.
[/quote.

I've bought nothing but full size vehicles for the last 25 years, so I have as best I could "as far as affordability and safety goes" planned for a worst case scenario in a crash. Respectfully, can you post a link to those 2017 stats and the test criteria that show a mini having a lower death rate vs large pickups?

https://www.iihs.org/ratings/driver-death-rates-by-make-and-model You'll have to pick 2017 and then the different vehicle types. The Mini is in Mini 2 door cars. The stats are what they are, and if you look at different years for the same vehicle you can find that the death rate can vary quite a bit for some reason.
Who knows exactly why the death rate is so low for those years of Mini and some of the very large pickups are so bad? Driver usage patterns and errors I guess. The most import factor in your safety is still your own driving decisions.
 
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