Study Shows Cars With Highest Driver Death RatesStellantisA new report from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety finds that many of the cars on American roads with the highest rates of driver deaths fall into the category of either sportier-than-average vehicles, smaller-than-average ones, or both — while some 3-row SUVs had rates so low, they effectively saw no driver deaths during the four-year span of the study.The independent safety watchdog analyzed the deaths of drivers across the 2021–2024 timespan who were behind the wheel of vehicles from the 2023 model year or before, provided those earlier versions had the same designs and features as the model's 2023 example, and found that smaller and sportier vehicles had the highest rate of driver deaths. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the diminutive Kia Rio led the list, with 170 driver deaths per million registered vehicle-years. The Chrysler 300 and Dodge Challenger accounted for the third, fourth, and fifth-highest driver death rates (IIHS breaks Hemi-powered Challengers out separately, for some reason, with them one spot ahead of non-Hemi versions), with respective rates per million registration years of 132, 127, and 125.Greg PajoOther notable vehicles included in the highest driver death rate data include the Kia Forte (120 deaths per million registered vehicle years), Nissan Altima (105 deaths per million registered vehicle years), and Chevrolet Camaro (88 deaths per million registered vehicle years). The Chevy Corvette was also included in the top 20 vehicles with the highest rates of driver deaths, with a rate of 82 deaths per million registered vehicle years.AdvertisementAdvertisement"Even the safest small cars don't fare well in crashes with large pickups and heavy SUVs," IIHS president David Harkey said. "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."IIHS has been calculating driver death rates about every three years since 1989, but the safety organization recently began investigating death rates for other drivers—the number of drivers in other vehicles killed in crashes with each model. The models with the highest rates of other-driver deaths ranged from large pickups like the Ram 3500 Crew Cab and Chevrolet Silverado 3500 to muscle cars such as the Dodge Charger and the Camaro. The heavy-duty Ram represents a particular danger to other drivers, according to the report, accounting for an other-driver death rate of 204 drivers per million registered vehicle years. All told, pickup trucks made up 10 of the 20 vehicles with the highest rates of other-driver deaths.RamOn the flip side of the coin, 18 of the 20 models with the lowest driver death rates are large vehicles, six of which had death rates of zero per million registered vehicle-years. The Audi Q7, BMW X7, Chevrolet Tahoe, Mercedes-Benz GLB-Class, and Toyota Tundra made the top of the list, with death rates of nil. IIHS researchers pointed out that all but one of the top six models with the lowest driver death rates were luxury SUVs. However, while these larger vehicles protected drivers inside well, the research shows that larger vehicles were predominantly responsible for the deaths of other drivers in crashes."The low death rates for luxury vehicles and high death rates for cheaper models most likely represent that type of difference, though luxury models can be equipped with more cutting-edge safety features than some less-expensive cars," IIHS researchers said in their report. "It is possible, for example, that even when the data are adjusted for age, a greater proportion of new or inexperienced drivers choose cheaper vehicles. Those working double shifts or multiple jobs may also log more miles per day than more affluent drivers. Differences in driver behavior most likely also explain why death rates are lower for ordinary cars than for sports cars and muscle cars and lower still for wagons."You Might Also LikeIf You Can Only Own One Car, Make It One of TheseThese Are the Most Popular Cars by State