A recent study has found that Elon Musk’s Tesla EVs have the highest fatal accident rate of all car brands in the United States, with a rate that is twice the industry average.
Road & Track reports that a new study conducted by iSeeCars has revealed that Tesla vehicles have the highest fatal accident rate among all car brands in America. The study, which analyzed data from the U.S. Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) for model year 2018–2022 vehicles involved in crashes between 2017 and 2022 that resulted in occupant fatalities, found that Tesla vehicles have a fatal crash rate of 5.6 per billion miles driven. This is double the average fatal crash rate of 2.8 per billion vehicle miles driven for all cars in the United States.
Breaking down Tesla’s individual EVs, the Model S has a fatal crash rate of 5.8 per billion vehicle miles driven, more than double the average. Even more concerning, the Tesla Model Y, which is currently the best-selling vehicle in the world, has a fatal crash rate of 10.6 per billion vehicle miles driven, nearly four times the average. The Model Y ranked as the sixth worst vehicle overall in terms of fatal crash rates.
Despite these alarming findings, the study’s authors emphasize that the results do not necessarily indicate that Tesla vehicles are inherently unsafe or have design flaws. In fact, Tesla vehicles are equipped with advanced safety technology, and the 2024 Model Y was even named a Top Safety Pick+ award winner by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). Many other cars that ranked highly on the list have also received high safety ratings from organizations like IIHS and the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA).
So, what could be contributing to the high fatal crash rates of Tesla vehicles and other ostensibly safe cars on the list? According to iSeeCars executive analyst Karl Brauer, the models on the list likely reflect a combination of driver behavior and driving conditions that lead to increased crashes and fatalities. “A focused, alert driver, traveling at a legal or prudent speed, without being under the influence of drugs or alcohol, is the most likely to arrive safely regardless of the vehicle they’re driving,” Brauer said in the report.
It is possible that the advanced technology and features in Tesla vehicles, such as the Autopilot system, may be contributing to a false sense of security among drivers, leading them to engage in riskier behavior behind the wheel. An NHTSA report issued in April calls Tesla’s lax driver engagement system a “critical safety gap.”
