Body Count: These Are The Safest And Deadliest Three-Year-Old Used Cars

With used-vehicle inventories again being replenished on dealers’ lots and prices beginning to float back to Earth (Cox Automotive says they’re now 10.1% cheaper than they were a year ago), it’s becoming a good time to go out shopping for a safe and reliable late-model car, truck or SUV.

Buying a three-year-old used car, truck or crossover—especially one that’s coming off lease and has been contractually well cared-for—can be an especially good deal, in that it’s likely lost a considerable amount of its original value. But buying a pre-owned model, even one that comes with a warranty, is always punctuated with question marks, primary among them is which of them are the safest choices?

The usual way to compare the potential safety, or lack thereof, among the fleet of pre-owned vehicles is to consult past crash test ratings as conducted by the National Highway Traffic Administration (NHTSA) and the industry-supported Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). The various tests these agencies conduct can show how well a given model can be expected to protect occupants in a wreck, based on controlled crash tests.

But what about the real world? Like vetting a job candidate one needs to look into a used vehicle’s history to determine how well it’s performed this important task on the road with actual drivers behind the wheel.

To that end the IIHS just released an index of driver fatality rates reported for vehicles from the 2020 model year as a past-performance guide to which are the safest and deadliest rides on the road from a statistical standpoint. This is based upon models having at least 100,000 registered vehicle years or have accounted for 20 deaths during the study period as reported by the federal Fatality Analysis Reporting System.

The IIHS releases this information every three years, and driver rates are used for comparison, as every accident involves a motorist, but not necessary passengers. The fatality rates are based on driver deaths in vehicles from the 2020 model year reported from 2018 to 2021 (earlier models with the same designs and features were also included).

The statistics indicate that some of the worst offenders in this regard among three-year old models are classic Detroit-iron muscle cars, including the Dodge Challenger and Charger, Chevrolet Camaro and Ford Mustang. Logic dictates that high horsepower ratings combined with often younger and more reckless drivers can be a sure-fire recipe for calamity.

And once again proving that size matters when it comes to auto safety, the highest-fatalities list also includes some of the smallest subcompact cars sold in the U.S., including the Mitsubishi Mirage, Hyundai Accent and Kia Rio.

We’re featuring both lists below, with the number of recorded driver deaths during the observation period noted.

“We typically find that smaller vehicles have high driver death rates because they don’t provide as much protection, especially in crashes with larger, heavier SUVs and pickups,” explains IIHS President David Harkey. “The muscle cars on this list highlight that a vehicle’s image and how it is marketed can also contribute to crash risk.”

At the other end of the ledger, the list of models that have recorded the lowest number of driver deaths includes a mix of sensible sedans, along with several small and midsize SUVs. Many of the best performers are luxury models, which proves that money indeed talks when it comes to vehicle safety. These are the cars and SUVs that are most likely to come standard with advanced driver-assist systems like automatic forward emergency braking than less-pricey models where such systems are either optional, or not widely available (i.e. limited only to higher trims).

In terms of market segments, minicars registered the highest driver death rates, averaging 153 fatalities per million registered vehicle years. Big luxury sedans had the lowest rates, averaging only 4 deaths. Four models from 2020 recorded zero motorist casualties.

“Overall, newer vehicles are much safer than those of the past,” says Chuck Farmer, vice president of research and statistical services for the IIHS. “But, unfortunately, there are still major differences in the levels of protection that various models provide. There was also a spike in speeding-related fatalities during the pandemic, which may help explain why we find so many muscle cars among the worst performers for this period.”

2020 Vehicles With The Highest Driver Death Rates

1. Mitsubishi Mirage G4 (minicar): 205 fatalities per million vehicle years
2. Mitsubishi Mirage (hatchback minicar): 183 fatalities
3. Dodge Challenger (large car): 154 fatalities
4. Hyundai Accent (minicar): 152 fatalities
5. Chevrolet Spark (minicar): 151 fatalities
6. Kia Rio (minicar):122 fatalities
7. Dodge Charger HEMI 2WD (large car): 118 fatalities
8. Chevrolet Camaro convertible (sports car): 113 fatalities
9. Nissan Altima (midsize car): 113 fatalities
10. Kia Forte (small car): 111 fatalities
11. Chevrolet Camaro (sports coupe): 110 fatalities
12. Chevrolet Sonic (small car): 107 fatalities
13. Hyundai Elantra (small car): 103 fatalities
14. Chrysler 300 4WD (large car): 100 fatalities
15. Ford Mustang convertible (sports car): 97 fatalities
16. Chevrolet Malibu (midsize car): 91 fatalities
17. Dodge Charger 2WD (large car): 91 fatalities
18. Chevrolet Trax 2WD (small SUV): 89 fatalities
19. Ford EcoSport 2WD (small SUV): 84 fatalities
20. Chevrolet Impala (large car): 80 fatalities
21. Kia Optima (midsize car): 80 fatalities

2020 Vehicles With The Lowest Driver Death Rates

1. BMW X3 4WD (midsize luxury SUV): 0 fatalities per million vehicle years
2. Lexus ES 350 (midsize luxury car): 0 fatalities
3. Mercedes-Benz E-Class sedan 4WD (large luxury car): 0 fatalities
4. Nissan Pathfinder 2WD (midsize SUV): 0 fatalities
5. Audi Q5 4WD (midsize luxury SUV): 2 fatalities
6. Toyota C-HR (small SUV): 2 fatalities
7. Nissan Murano 2WD (midsize SUV): 4 fatalities
8. Volvo XC90 4WD (midsize luxury SUV): 4 fatalities
9. GMC Canyon Crew Cab 4WD (small pickup): 5 fatalities
10. Lexus RX 350 4WD (midsize luxury SUV): 5 fatalities
11. Subaru Outback (midsize wagon): 5 fatalities
12. Toyota Sienna 2WD (minivan): 5 fatalities
13. Volvo XC60 4WD (midsize luxury SUV): 5 fatalities
14. Acura MDX 4WD (midsize luxury SUV): 6 fatalities
15. Acura RDX 4WD (midsize luxury SUV): 6 fatalities
16. BMW X5 4WD (midsize luxury SUV): 6 fatalities
17. Chevrolet Traverse 4WD (midsize SUV): 6 fatalities
18. Ford Edge 4WD (midsize SUV): 6 fatalities
19. Honda Odyssey (large minivan): 6 fatalities
20. Lexus NX 300 2WD (midsize luxury SUV): 6 fatalities
21. Porsche Macan (midsize luxury SUV): 6 fatalities
22. Subaru Ascent (midsize SUV): 6 fatalities
23. Toyota Tacoma Double Cab long bed (small pickup): 6 fatalities

Source: IIHS

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