Do you drive an inexpensive, small car? Maybe your teen drives one of these cars or your looking to buy a car for your teen. Take a look at these safety ratings first. A study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety looked at “large-sales volume vehicles between the 2008 and 2011 model years.” They found that four-door cars like Kia Rio, Nissan Versa, and Hyundai Accents had the highest rate of driver deaths per million registered vehicles.
The bottom line is that small and light vehicles have higher death rates, with only two exceptions, small cars make up the top ten. Occupant compartments crush more and that hinders the seat belts and air bags from doing their job. Although it seems the highest death rates are in smaller cars, smaller cars have been improving in safety. Cars from 10 -15 years ago, like the Dodge Neon had passenger compartments that collapse completely in crash tests.
The reviewers did acknowledge that drivers could be an issue, primarily young, male drivers, and they took that into consideration.
Here’s the list of the models with the highest death rates, and the number of deaths over the study period:
- Kia Rio four-door, 149
- Nissan Versa, 130
- Hyundai Accent four-door, 120
- Chevrolet Aveo, 99
- Hyundai Accent two-door, 86
- Chevrolet Camaro, 80
- Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Crew, 79
- Honda Civic, 76
- Nissan Versa hatchback, 71
- Ford Focus, 70
