A new report from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety shows Land Rover’s Range Rover Sport and LR3 models to share the lowest rates of driver deaths of all vehicles tested.
A new report from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety shows Land Rover’s Range Rover Sport and LR3 models to share the lowest rates of driver deaths of all vehicles tested.
“Death rate” is a morbid metric used by the Institute of Highway Safety to measure the total number of deaths-per-vehicle-model over a three-year period (2006-2009). The popular Range Rover Sport and LR3 models placed at the top of the list, recording 0 fatalities during the testing period. Interestingly, SUVs recorded death rates far lower than all other car categories.
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(Insurance Institute of Highway Safety, Status Report, Vol. 46, No. 5, June 9, 2011)
Historically, the raised chassis and higher center of gravity of most SUVs have made the vehicles prone to rollover accidents resulting in high driver death rates. However, the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety notes that the proliferation of vehicle electronic stability control (ESC) has slashed instances of SUV rollovers, reducing driver deaths across all vehicle categories. This inverse relationship between ESC availability and driver death rates is so striking that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration mandated all passenger vehicles built after 2012 to come equipped with ESC.
With ESC reducing the risk of rollovers, the SUV’s body-on-frame architecture and heavy curbside weight benefit the safety of the driver in the event of an accident. “The rollover risk in SUVs used to outweigh their size/weight advantage, but that’s no longer the case, thanks to ESC,” notes Anne McCartt, IIHS Vice President for Research.
MV: Multi Vehicle
SV: Single Vehicle
SV Roll: Single Vehicle Roll
*Cumulative Death Rates in Bold
(Insurance Institute of Highway Safety, Status Report, Vol. 46, No. 5, June 9, 2011)
It bears noting that certain behavioral elements play a role in death rate statistics. The driver of an SUV or minivan is less likely to speed or drive recklessly than someone in a sports car. Perhaps this is why minivans recorded the lowest death rates of any vehicle category, including SUVs.
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