Study Finds Tesla Has Higher Rate of Fatal Accidents Than Any Other Car

Tesla has the highest rate of fatal accidents on the road out of every other car brand in the US, according to new research.

The study, conducted by the automotive site iSeeCars, analyzed data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System maintained by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Focusing on crashes involving 2018 to 2022 model-year cars that resulted in at least one occupant’s death, the analysis found that Tesla had a fatal accident rate of about 5.6 per billion miles driven.

Several crashes per billion is no improbability, as Americans collectively drive around 3 trillion miles annually. Strikingly, Tesla’s rate is also twice the overall average of 2.8 fatal crashes per billion, putting the EV automaker far above the norm. It’s closely trailed by Kia at a rate of 5.5, and more distantly by Buick, Dodge, and Hyundai, the others that make up the deadly top five.

Eyes Front

According to the researchers, the findings aren’t an indictment of the design of the cars per se — although it’s not out of the question — but of driver behavior.

“New cars are safer than they’ve ever been,” iSeeCars executive analyst Karl Brauer said in a statement, citing more advanced chassis design and airbag implementation. “But these safety features are being countered by distracted driving and higher rates of speed, leading to rising accident and death rates in recent years.”

In fact, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, there have been higher rates of automotive accidents and fatalities in the past five years than in the previous twelve.

“Most of these vehicles received excellent safety ratings, performing well in crash tests at the IIHS and NHTSA, so it’s not a vehicle design issue,” Brauer added.

Attention Deficit

If distracted or otherwise complacent driving is the cause, it’s not hard to understand why Tesla may be leading the pack, with the Model Y in particular having the sixth highest fatal crash rate for any individual car model.

Tesla and especially its CEO Elon Musk misleadingly paint its driver assistance systems as being more autonomous and competent than they really are. This is especially the case with its Full Self-Driving mode, which — despite what its moniker suggests — doesn’t mean the car is fully capable of driving itself. In reality, whoever is behind the wheel is expected to take over at a moment’s notice should anything go wrong.

But with a name like Full Self-Driving, you could forgive drivers for thinking otherwise. The automaker’s driving modes are continuously investigated for their dubious safety, joined by frequent anecdotal accounts of the vehicles going haywire that are impossible to ignore.

Perhaps more than any automaker, Tesla has led the charge in replacing old fashioned buttons on the center console with giant touch screens, which are more difficult and attention-demanding to use while driving — to say nothing of the enormous distractions caused by letting people play video games on the infotainment system while the cars are in motion.