A new study finds that muscle cars and small cars have the highest driver death rates

(These three soundbites are from Charles Farmer, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s vice president of research and statistical services. For more about the study, visit iihs.org.) “Since 1989, we’ve calculated driver death-rates by make and model—offering another way for consumers to understand the relative risk of dying in different vehicles. And this year, for the first time, we’ve also identified best and worst models according to the number of drivers in other vehicles that they killed in crashes. A total of nine models are among both the vehicles with the lowest driver and the lowest other-driver death-rates—and seven of those are luxury vehicles. The rates include only driver-deaths because all vehicles on the road have drivers, but not all of them have other passengers—or the same number of passengers.” (:45) “American muscle-cars, small cars, and mini cars rank among the deadliest for their drivers: Six of the 20 vehicles with the highest driver death-rates for the 2020 model-year are variants of either the Chevrolet Camaro, the Dodge Charger, the Dodge Challenger, or the Ford Mustang—while many others are small or mini cars. Meanwhile, many of the vehicles with the lowest driver death-rates are minivans or S-U-V’s—and quite a few are luxury vehicles.” (:33) “When it comes to the best and worst models according to the number of drivers in other vehicles that they killed in crashes, the story of big and small is partially reversed—illustrating the danger that large, powerful vehicles pose to other road-users: Seven of the 20 vehicles with the highest other-driver death-rates are large or very large pickups, while an additional four are midsize S-U-V’s—categories that aren’t represented among the models with the worst track-record for protecting their own drivers.” (:36)