The top five most dangerous vehicles — study

Vehicles are safer than ever, but the number of accidents and fatalities continues to climb, with some models being particularly dangerous to occupants.

Driving the news: According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the rate of traffic-related accidents and deaths over the last five years is higher than the 12 years before, possibly due to higher levels of distraction. While advancements in auto design have improved driver safety, new research from iSeeCars suggests that certain models are seeing a disproportionately higher share of occupant fatalities.

• The top five most dangerous vehicles each have a fatality rate four times that of the average car. The Hyundai Venue (4.9 times the average) tops the list, followed by the Chevy Corvette (4.8), Mitsubishi Mirage (4.8), Porsche 911 (4.6) and Honda CR-V Hybrid (4.6).

• In sixth to tenth place, iSeeCars lists the Tesla Model Y, Mitsubishi Mirage G4, Buick Encore GX, Kia Forte and Buick Envision, with fatality rates ranging from 3.7 times the average for the Model Y to 2.8 times the average for the Envision.

Zooming in: As one might expect, size factors heavily into overall vehicle safety.

• Subcompact and compact vehicles see a fatal accident rate of 3.6 per billion miles, compared to the average of 2.8. Meanwhile large and midsize vehicles see below-average rates of 2.5 and 2.0.

• Trucks are generally the safest, with full-size pickups performing the best. While the overall fatal accident rate for trucks is 2.3 per billion miles (below the national average), the most dangerous pickup is the Nissan Frontier, with a fatal accident rate of 5 per billion miles.

• However, some larger cars can also see higher fatality rates. Top-heavy SUVs, which have a bigger chance of rolling over during a crash, see fatal accidents well-above the average. Topping the list of the most dangerous SUVs are the Hyundai Venue, Honda CR-V Hybrid, Tesla Model Y, Buick Encore GX and Buick Envision.

Zooming out: Some brands perform worse than others when it comes to occupant safety.

• Tesla tops the list with a fatal accident rate of 5.6 per billion miles, followed by Kia at 5.5, Buick at 4.8, Dodge at 4.4 and Hyundai at 3.9.

Bottom line: Vehicle safety continues to improve, boosting the odds of survival in the event of a crash. However, certain makes and models continue to perform worse than others, making it important for consumers and dealers to stay aware of the statistics.

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