More than half of 2023 vehicles with the highest driver death rates are small cars, sports cars or muscle cars, a new report from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has revealed.
IIHS has been calculating driver death rates approximately every three years since 1989. This year marks the second time IIHS has also calculated the “other-driver death rate” – the number of drivers in other vehicles killed in crashes with each model.
“Even the safest small cars don’t fare well in crashes with large pickups and heavy SUVs,” said IIHS President David Harkey.
“Powerful engines and marketing that attracts aggressive drivers is the issue for sports cars and muscle cars. They’re dangerous mainly because of how they’re driven.”
The study found the biggest vehicles are most dangerous to others. Ten of the top 20 were large or very large pickups, including several heavy-duty variants with more powerful engines.
The full lists can be viewed on the IIHS website.
