Featured Tesla drivers are the worst, study shows

"iSeeCars.com analyzed fatality data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) of model year 2018-2022 cars with car crashes that resulted in at least one occupant [emphasis added] fatality to identify the most dangerous vehicles on U.S. roads today."

I.e. this study excluded non-occupant fatalities: occupants of the other vehicles of multi-vehicle crashes, and pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcyclists, etc. Therefore it paints an incomplete picture, with a selection bias in favor of larger vehicles that inflict a disproportionate portion of their deaths on to non-occupants.

I previously posted a chart of many older-era vehicle models charting both occupant and non-occupant fatalities. The disparities were huge, and even non-occupant deaths were strongly correlated to vehicle size.

 

Found this interesting article that directly addresses the Lending Tree claim.

Sorry but the attached file appears to have truncated the right 5-10% of each line. But it still seems legible to me. Others may have more luck getting a clean copy of the article:
No, Tesla, Subaru, and Ram drivers don't have the most accidents

So if you want to "hate on Tesla," OK by me. I sold all my TSLA stock for a solar roof. Or if you are going to buy a Tesla, please use my referral code and we'll both get a little "Tesla sugar."

What clued me to 'something wrong here' was the 2023 date. It is almost 3 years later and what this article claims is just now something worth reading? Reminds me of:

Bob Wilson

 

IMHO; Instant torque at the wheel and inattentive driving is always going to get you in trouble. When hot-rods, high torque to body weight cars were introduced to the general public - I'd bet there would've been a similarly high correlation.

Just my two cents....

 

It's Got to be awful frustrating for Gokhan - scanning, ever scanning the web to try to find something, anything, to stop or slow the sales of Tesla's over the prius.

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Studies of occupant fatalities tell us non-occupants nothing about which vehicles we need to stay away from. Instead, we need to see a listing or ranking on non-occupant fatality rates.

 

iirc both Tesla & Prius are 5 star safety rated.

 

Note that IIHS safety ratings are a moving target, getting stepped up every year. So check each specific model and year before making any claims of a top IIHS rating.

E.g. for 2025, Prius hatchback gets an IIHS Top Safety Pick+, the Prime is missing. A Tesla Model Y gets the same, all other models are missing.

For 2024, Prius hatchback got Top Safety Pick+, Prime got Top Safety Pick without the "+". Tesla Model Y got Top Safety Pick+, Model Y AWD got Top Safety Pick without the "+", other models missing.

For 2023, both Prius hatchback and Prime got Top Safety Pick+. The only Tesla was again the Model Y non-AWD.

For 2022, no Prius on the list. For Tesla, both Model 3 and Model Y got Top Safety Pick+, for both the 2022 and 2023 model years. That means these 2023s qualified for the 2022 criteria, but not the stepped-up 2023 criteria. Other models missing.

For 2021, again no Prius on the list. Tesla Model 3s again made the list, but for Model Ys only those made after April that year.

...

 

Their Top Safety Pick(+) ratings are based on more than just crash tests, they are also based on features, including ADAS features, and on non-destructive tests such as headlight patterns. These are the components that get stepped up every year.[/QUOTE]