This Car Is The Worst Offender When It Comes To Rising Driver Death Rates

The latest study from IIHS reports that driver death rates are up 20 percent. And this small car is the worst vehicle to be behind the wheel of.

While small cars are notorious for being “death traps”, this study certainly backs that up. A study done by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) of 2017 model year cars found that minicars have the highest driver death rates of all vehicle types.

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.

When it comes to particular models, the worst offender was the Ford Fiesta four-door at 141 overall driver deaths per million, followed by the Hyundai Accent four-door (116) and Chevrolet Sonic four-door (98).

The study found that the average driver death rate for all 2017 models increased to 36 deaths, compared with 30 for 2014 models which is a further increase from a low of 28 for 2011 models following a steady decline since the 1970s. This year IIHS also compared the driver death rates per 10 billion miles traveled. In general, the mileage data bolstered the original findings of vehicle size and explained some notable exceptions.

You may be thinking, what about sports and performance cars? It turns out that sports cars and luxury cars, which traveled fewer miles per year than other models, showed relatively higher driver death rates by the alternative method. Death rates for pickups trended lower by miles driven.