Teslas Are Involved in More Fatal Accidents Than Any Other Brand, Study Finds

Elon Musk has sought to portray Tesla’s vehicles as the “safest cars on the road.” However, a new analysis of federal data purports to show that Musk’s company actually has the highest rate of involvement with fatal accidents of any car brand.

The analysis, which was put together by automotive search engine iSeeCars, cites fatality statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) to claim that Tesla has “the highest fatal accident rate by brand, followed by Kia, Buick, Dodge, and Hyundai.”

The report further notes: “As with the model rankings, it’s possible these high fatal accident rates reflect driver behavior as much or more than vehicle design.” In other words, Teslas may not have any particular features that make them more dangerous. It may be that drivers of Teslas are just more prone to crashing or being involved in crashes.

“The biggest contributor to occupant safety is avoiding a crash, and the biggest factor in crash avoidance is driver behavior,” said Karl Brauer, iSeeCars Executive Analyst. “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.”

Gizmodo has not independently verified the findings of the report. We reached out to Tesla and the NHTSA for comment.

The research into Tesla’s safety issues is ongoing and doesn’t paint a particularly coherent picture. Indeed, a similarly publicized report published in August by vehicle history information vendor EpicVIN claimed that, of all the car brands, Tesla drivers were least likely to suffer fatal injuries. If both that report and the iSeeCars report are to be believed, it would imply that Teslas drivers are most likely to be involved in fatal crashes but least likely to be killed in those crashes. Like iSeeCars, EpicVIN cited data from the NHTSA’s FARs to make these claims.

A study published by the auto loan and mortgage giant Lending Tree in December 2023 claimed that Tesla drivers had the highest crash rate of any brand. The study cited data from Nov. 14, 2022, through Nov. 14, 2023, claiming that “Tesla drivers had 23.54 accidents per 1,000 drivers,” while noting that only two other brands—Ram and Subaru—had “more than 20.00 accidents per 1,000 drivers.”

Tesla’s reliance on automated software has been eyed as a potential safety issue. A report in 2022 released by the NHTSA claimed that, in the preceding twelve-month period, Teslas accounted for some 70 percent of the car crashes that involved driver-assist systems. Tesla’s driver-assisted function, Autopilot, has often been criticized, with regulators speculating that it may be playing a role in crashes. Indeed, the NHTSA published yet another report this past April that claimed Tesla’s Autopilot function had a “critical safety gap” that could be linked to hundreds of crashes. An analysis conducted by the Washington Post last summer similarly found that Tesla’s Autopilot function had been involved in a total of 17 fatalities and as many as 736 crashes since 2019. The newspaper again cited NHTSA statistics.

Tesla is one of several Musk companies that are currently under investigation by federal agencies. Both the NHTSA and the Department of Justice are currently investigating the car company. However, Musk’s new tenure as a federal bureaucrat at a “government efficiency” “agency” may complicate many of those ongoing investigations.