What Car Gets into the Most Accidents?

Have you ever wondered what car gets into the most accidents? Understanding accident trends on the road can help you avoid accidents and injury. If you or someone you know is in an accident, contact the team at Leighton Panoff Law to discuss your claim. 

Some cars, for a variety of reasons, get a bad rap. For example, there is sometimes a stigma around luxury sports cars associated with entitled or reckless drivers. Yet, whether they are speeding or simply don’t know how to operate their vehicle, either situation can lead to accidents and injuries.

Sports cars are usually the first car that comes to mind when someone considers which car type gets into the most accidents. Indeed, these cars often have higher insurance rates. As a result, they’re more expensive to fix, and people are inclined to drive at higher speeds.

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Police officers are often more likely to pull one over at a moment’s notice. The slightest wrong move and the sirens come on. However, sports cars are not the highest-ranked cars that get into the most accidents. So, what car gets into the most accidents and why? Let’s take a look.

Why Should Accident Rates Concern You?

People want to know what type of accidents are the most common and which cars have the highest accident rates.

Perhaps you are a concerned parent buying a car for your child. You want to give it to them as a present for their sixteenth birthday, now that they can drive! Or, the car is a graduation present now that they’re on their way to college.

Whatever the reason, you want to buy a car for your child to keep them safe and be fun to drive. However, you know cars are dangerous, especially for any new driver.

Most parents want to avoid any car that makes their children prone to overconfidence, speeding, or other dangerous acts. Indeed, younger drivers are typically more at risk on the road.

People want a sensible car that will work well. They want to like their vehicle without dealing with increased accident rates.

You’re young and independent or part of a new couple or family, and you need to get a car that is the most financially affordable possible. You want to ensure that you’re not going to pay extra on insurance every month just because you bought a certain car!

Most importantly, you want to keep yourself, your spouse, and your children safe! Knowing what car gets into the most accidents will help you buy or rent something smart. In addition, you’ll avoid unwanted police encounters and accidents.

By looking into which types of cars get into the most accidents, you can choose a safe and affordable model.

Read on to learn the two most important factors in what makes a car accident-prone: color and brand, and other interesting and important facts about car safety!

Black is Out

Studies show that it is not the brightly-colored cars that commonly collide but darker cars. Black cars, especially, get into more accidents.

International studies indicate black cars are fifty percent more likely to be involved in an automobile accident than any other colored car. In a European study over twenty years that involved over eight hundred thousand car accidents, black cars were in the most accidents.

Why are black cars so dangerous? Simply because they’re harder to see!

Black cars blend in with the black asphalt of the streets and don’t offer much contrast at all. This makes them harder to spot at any time of day, but mainly during the nighttime. People can barely see you when you’re driving on a dark road and in a dark car. Sometimes, it’s only your headlights keeping you safe.

Other darker cars include:

• Dark blue
• Gray
• Dark Green
• Maroon
• & Other Dark Colors

Every buyer should think about color and how a car’s color impacts road safety.

Although you may assume that loud sports and luxury cars are the ones caught red-handed in the middle of an accident, the car’s color isn’t the reason– it’s the person driving it. When it comes down to just the car’s color, black cars typically crash at higher rates regardless of who’s driving and how responsible– or sober– they are.

Brighter Colors Are Easier to Spot

So, keeping this in mind, we can confirm that the safest cars to drive are ones that are colored white, gold, or yellow. This is because they are light and bright, making them easier to spot, especially at night.

How Much Does Brand Factor In?

Some brands are more likely to be in accidents as well. For example, in a three-year study, the highest percentage of fatal car accidents, seventeen percent, over twenty-one thousand cars, was attributed to Ford vehicles. The study was conducted from 2017 to 2019 and used the total data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration from these years to find these numbers.

They then broke down the data into the car manufacturer and its car models. Specifically, the Ford F-150 truck was the most common model involved in an accident. F-150s were in over four thousand of these car crashes. The next highest on the list of manufacturers was Chevrolet, with over twenty thousand accidents, and Toyota, with just under thirteen thousand.

What Car Gets into the Most Accidents – Things to Consider

Can we assume you should avoid these brands at all costs? If you simply own a Ford car, you’re much more likely to be involved in a fatal crash?

Not necessarily.

You have to consider the demographic of people who use each type of car. For example, the Ford model F-150 is a large pickup truck. These trucks are big, heavy-duty vehicles used for all sorts of purposes. Industrial use, for example, may make them more susceptible to car crashes. Hauling large items or large amounts of things in the truck bed can increase accident rates. In addition, objects could block the driver’s view, fall off or make maneuvering the car harder.

Secondly, the statistic doesn’t consider the number of people who own each type of car. Ford is at the top of the list in how many crashes these cars have been in because more Americans have Ford cars. The F-150 is usually the highest-selling vehicle in the United States. Their sales outpace any other specific make and model vehicle in most years.

It’s hard to pin any fault on F-150s when so many people drive them.

According to a 2019 study from Insurify, affordability was a significant factor in car crashes. Six of the ten cars with the most crashes all have MSRPs of less than $25,000. This could indicate that younger people are driving them. They’re less experienced and more prone to speeding. 

The study showed that over 25 percent of Subaru Crosstreks were in accidents when it comes to accident rates. So, while there were possibly more total F-150 accidents, people driving Crosstreks were more likely to be in accidents. However, keep in mind that the CrossTrek also received good crash test ratings from agencies.

In the end, it’s not about what car gets into the most accidents. It’s more about who is driving. Protect yourself on the road by always practicing defensive driving. If you’re in an accident, talk to an experienced lawyer Florida car accident lawyer as soon as possible about ways to pursue compensation.