Small cars and minicars accounted for 15 of the 20 models with the highest death rates for model year 2017, while nearly half of the 20 models with the lowest death rates were luxury SUVs.
“Smaller vehicles offer less protection for the driver in crashes, and their lighter mass means that they take the brunt of collisions with larger vehicles,” said Joe Nolan, IIHS Senior Vice President of Vehicle Research.
The five cars with the highest rates of driver deaths were:
- Ford Fiesta
- Hyundai Accent
- Chevrolet Sonic
- Nissan Versa Note
- Fiat 500
Seven models had no deaths at all, they were:
- GMC Yukon XL 1500 4WD
- Infiniti QX60 2WD
- Land Rover Range Rover Evoque 4WD
- Lexus NX 200t 4WD
- Mercedes-Benz C-Class sedan
- Porsche Cayenne 4WD
- Volkswagen Golf
The study found very large SUVs have the lowest overall death rate of any vehicle category with 15 fatalities per million registered vehicle years. Minicars have the highest at 82.
Full results of the study are available here.