In May, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), a nonprofit research organization funded by auto insurers, released their list of the most dangerous cars on the road. Researchers measured over 200 models (2014 or equivalent) between 2012 and 2015. The only vehicles considered were those with at least 100,000 registrations between 2012 and 2015.
Rankings were determined primarily by the most driver deaths per million registered vehicles vehicle. Initial findings revealed:
- Most vehicles are small cars with structures less able to absorb the impact of collisions
- Five of the ten most deadly cars are hatchbacks and three are small sedans
- Vehicles with the lowest driver death rates were large luxury cars and SUVs
- Four-door minicars have the worst death rate at 87 per one million registered vehicles
- Four-wheel drive large luxury SUVs have the lowest at six per one million
The top ten most dangerous vehicles in descending order include:
- Nissan Sentra – A small four-door car with 72 fatalities
- Nissan Titan Crew Cab short bed 4WD – A large pickup with 73 fatalities
- Dodge Challenger – A large two-door car with 81 fatalities
- Kia Soul – A small station wagon/minivan with 82 fatalities
- Ford Fiesta (sedan) – A mini four-door car with 83 fatalities
- Nissan Versa – A mini four-door car with 95 fatalities
- Chevrolet Spark – A mini four-door car with 96 fatalities
- Scion tC – A small two-door car with 101 fatalities
- Kia Rio – A mini four-door car with 102 fatalities
- Hyundai Accent (sedan) – A mini four-door car with 104 fatalities
Regardless of how much protection a car provides, a driver’s negligence can make the safest of vehicles into a dangerous and deadly machine that could easily injure or kill anyone sharing the road.
