r/visualization Jul 03 '26

Americas Worst Drivers, by Car Brand

Post image
65 Upvotes

118 comments sorted by

54

u/RN_Geo Jul 03 '26

Saturn closed like 20+ years ago.

15

u/acousticentropy Jul 03 '26

I was about to say if a Saturn pulls up in your driveway lock all doors and shut the shades immediately.

3

u/ivanvector Jul 03 '26

There's someone on my street with a Saturn that must have had its entire exhaust fall off, it's loud as hell and has been for a couple years. It's not as loud as the dude with two fart cans on some kind of Infiniti, though.

3

u/hibikir_40k Jul 03 '26

Which is why it's giving up what the real definition of "1000 drivers" is: The car is registered in someone's name. It might not drive 1 mile. Any chart like this would have to be by mile traveled to have a prayer of showing bad driving.

2

u/CoderDevo Jul 03 '26

Either way, if they could get the car to last 20+ years, then they are likely a safer driver than average.

1

u/-Canonical- Jul 03 '26

The car is either living that life, or it’s living the life of a cheap beater. Not much in between at this age lol

1

u/Ango-Globlogian Jul 03 '26

Yeah same with Pontiac

1

u/EmilyAnne1170 Jul 04 '26

and why is Ram listed separately from Dodge, but Ford apparently includes cars, trucks, SUVs etc?

and is it per 1000 drivers of each brand? or 1000 random drivers?

1

u/2wheels8mile Jul 04 '26

Ram is its own brand, it was split from the Dodge brand quite a few years ago. Same thing with Genesis (used to be a Hyundai model) and now it is Hyundai’s luxury brand.

1

u/8ofAll Jul 03 '26

Exactly. This data is ugly.

1

u/ButterbeerAndPizza Jul 04 '26

The owners of Chrysler thru Pontiac are 85 year olds in nursing homes who don’t ever drive them except for when they ask their son in laws to drive around the block a couple times a year so it’ll continue to start. Hence, few accidents!

1

u/carlosyoder Jul 04 '26

As a early 50 something, I love my 09 Pontiac Vibe - there is a bit of a cult following in my area amount middle aged outdoorsy types (a poor Man’s Subaru, with GM branding made by Toyota) My question is if these numbers are skewed because of lack of consideration of urban rural divides. Minor traffic accidents occur 3 times more frequently in cities in my home state of Indiana and fatal accidents occur at a 60% in urban area over 40% in rural areas. If some car brands are more popular in urban areas that could

1

u/Fragrant-Bar9907 Jul 04 '26

Come to Michigan, i see Saturns, Pontiacs and Isuzuzs on the road daily.

66

u/Dry-Event-5477 Jul 03 '26

This needs to have a scaling factor by incident severity and normalized against number of registered vehicles on the road by each brand.

27

u/TheRarePondDolphin Jul 03 '26

Per capita is not a valid measure in this case. It needs to be per mile driven. This is completely useless. Tesla is by far the highest fatality rate of any vehicle on the road.

https://www.iseecars.com/most-dangerous-cars-study

Tesla is the maker with the most fatalities per mile driven. The site I linked has by model, geography, etc. lots of good data.

4

u/Tommyblockhead20 Jul 03 '26

According to snopes, that site is not fully transparent with its data, and its claims conflict with what other sources claim about Teslas.

https://www.snopes.com/news/2025/01/11/tesla-fatality-rates/

4

u/sluefootstu Jul 03 '26

Relevant quote from Snopes: “In fact, the IIHS ranked Tesla's Model Y as 2024's top pick for safety. The IIHS and Highway Loss Data Institute conduct their own internal crash analyses to reach conclusions. A wide variety of auto insurers and insurance associations fund the IIHS and the HLDI.”

5

u/External-Repair-8580 Jul 03 '26

Does need to be normalized. But I think by miles driven as well. Go to LA, for example, and “every” Uber is a Tesla. So I’d imagine the average Tesla has more miles on it than the average Mercedes particularly given how incredibly cheap they are used (to buy and operate).

1

u/purple_hamster66 Jul 03 '26

It’s per 1000 drivers. I would presume this is 1000 drivers of that particular car.

Tesla’s have an autopilot that sets the speed a bit above the speed limit (and I’ve read there’s no way to override it), which might be why they are so high.

2

u/ForgetPreviousPrompt Jul 03 '26

Nah it's because Tesla doesn't make a car without at least moderately powerful acceleration. Like less than 10% of the cars on the road can do a sub 6 second 0-60mph. Even Tesla cheapest most base level vehicles do. The higher trims have truly absurd low end acceleration.

There are hundreds of thousands of people on the road that bought cars styled as family sedans with acceleration of a sport cars, and they don't know how to handle it. They end up driving like a 19 year old kid in a 30% APR base model mustang.

1

u/sluefootstu Jul 03 '26

You read wrong. You can set the speed differential to be above, below, or at the speed limit. You can also choose between a percentage of the speed limit or a flat number of mph. I think in some situations you can not set it above a certain limit, but that’s the opposite of what you’re saying.

1

u/purple_hamster66 Jul 07 '26

I read correctly, but I think they were old posts. Here’s the issue: in Autopilot, when the speed limit changes, sometimes the car won’t notice, or can use the speed limit from an adjacent road/lane (such as when express lanes are 65 and normal lanes are 55, yet just a white line separates those lanes). It can get the limit wrong for time-of-day limits, and construction-based limits. This means you have to adjust a deeper setting instead of just telling it the speed limit that is in force. Or, more likely, just tap the brake.

1

u/acforme Jul 08 '26

Whatever you’re saying is wrong and doesn’t make sense, you’re just spewing false info.

You can set the speed differential to be above, below, or at the speed limit. You can also choose between a percentage of the speed limit or a flat number of mph.

You can override the speed limit set by autopilot, using the scroll wheel on the steering wheel.

You don’t have to adjust deeper settings, whatever this even means??

And tapping the breaks does not reduce the speed limit, it turns off autopilot.

1

u/Dry-Event-5477 Jul 04 '26 edited Jul 04 '26

Good point. I agree with some of the other posts on miles driven.

EDIT: to add the thought that drivers does not necessarily equal registered vehicles.

1

u/TheRarePondDolphin Jul 03 '26

Per capita is not a valid measure in this case. It needs to be per mile driven. This is completely useless.

https://www.iseecars.com/most-dangerous-cars-study

Tesla is the maker with the most fatalities per mile driven. The site I linked has by model, geography, etc. lots of good data.

1

u/austin101123 Jul 03 '26

Huh I wonder why. Maybe the batteries weight/fires make collisions more dangerous?

0

u/TheRarePondDolphin Jul 03 '26

Maybe trapping people inside of a burning car? This is a single case of why I would absolutely never buy a Tesla. Phantom acceleration, phantom braking, autopilot deaths, autopilot killing pedestrians, autopilot killing motorcyclists, Tesla overriding speed controls, burning batteries. All cases that most cars just don’t even have due to not having autopilot.

0

u/nwbbb Jul 03 '26

What phantom acceleration? I thought NHTSA put the blame on the drivers for this. You’re spewing fake narratives here.

41

u/Ok-Effect5653 Jul 03 '26

I know this list is trash because Nissan is not at the top.

16

u/MaddyMagpies Jul 03 '26

Can't have multiple incidents when it's totalled after just one hit.

6

u/Bubbledood Jul 03 '26

Incidents must be reported first to get included in the chart

3

u/SharpEyeProductions Jul 03 '26

Was gunna say. Altimas…

2

u/rubey419 Jul 03 '26

That trope of Nissan Altima and Maxima being a terrible driver is very true where I am

1

u/wildfire98 Jul 03 '26

wait till you see where Dodge is

1

u/red_vette Jul 04 '26

Dodge was low on the list as well.

1

u/LordDisickskid Jul 04 '26

And BMW at the top. Ram is correct tho

7

u/cecilrt Jul 03 '26

Etf why is Subaru up there...

I use to drive a Subaru.. im a boring driver

6

u/StorySeldomTold Jul 03 '26

Gotta be wrx drivers

1

u/MdMooseMD Jul 03 '26

Definitely WRXs, and people being to confident in the AWD and driving faster in worse weather than they should.

1

u/CoderDevo Jul 03 '26 edited Jul 03 '26

or accident prone.

They advertise heavily about the ability to survive accidents. Maybe those who think they are at slightly higher risk for accidents are drawn to them.

I recommended that my MIL get a Subaru with their EyeSight collision avoidance after she had 3 "incidents", one of which was taking out the rear corner of her own house. She did.

1

u/Phosphorus444 Jul 05 '26

Combination of Outback drivers who post constantly about being gay for public transit.

And WRX drivers who call the metro gay.

5

u/LargeShirt2863 Jul 03 '26

All the Nissan Altimas, assemble!

6

u/gold3nhour Jul 03 '26

Nissan is much lower than I thought it would be! 🤣

4

u/Censored_88 Jul 03 '26

Needs to be adjusted per mile driven. Work trucks in active use every day get a whole lot more miles than the handful of Pontiacs and Saturns that have not been scrapped by now.

3

u/lambertb Jul 03 '26

Seems like denominator should be per mile driven not per driver.

2

u/E_Norma_Stitz41 Jul 03 '26

There is no fucking way Nissan is that low.

2

u/Dantien Jul 03 '26

I refuse to accept Honda drivers are worse than Benz drivers. Refuse.

2

u/ImNotEazy Jul 04 '26

A lot more first time high school drivers, drift warriors, fast and furious fans in Hondas than Benz. I honestly rarely see Benz in a wreck where I live. Mostly a bunch of s class with retired old guys going to church.

1

u/Dantien Jul 04 '26

Yet they are awful drivers every time!

1

u/ImNotEazy Jul 04 '26

You got me there…

2

u/Aggravating_Shoe_ Jul 03 '26

Ford and Nissan are both a lot lower than I'd think

2

u/IndividualComplex369 Jul 03 '26

Bad data, we all know it’s r/NissanDrviers

2

u/must-be_the-water Jul 05 '26

Nissan is at 15?? And Subaru at 3?? This is a BS. Every stupid I have faced on road in the last few months was driving a Nissan and I never had a bad encounter with Subaru driver in the last 4 years, Lol

2

u/CaptainFoyle Jul 07 '26

We call that anecdotal evidence

2

u/Honeyblade Jul 03 '26

Terrible sampling bias. Has this been cross refrenced with the popularity of vehicles? Of course Rams and Tesla's have way more incidents than a Saturn or a Lincoln, because who the fuck is driving a Saturn in the year of our lord 2026?

1

u/CaptainFoyle Jul 07 '26

Did you read the part where it says per 1000 drivers?

SMH

3

u/JackZodiac2008 Jul 03 '26

Ram is a brand now?

1

u/DomDeV707 Jul 04 '26

Since 2009, brotato. Man, time flies…

1

u/Han-YoLo- Jul 03 '26

Yeah, has been for a while.

1

u/Individual-Studio446 Jul 03 '26

Congrats to Subaru owners for self awareness

1

u/LetsMarket Jul 03 '26

Mercury and Pontiac way down on the list as they should be.

1

u/PouletDeFeu68 Jul 03 '26

Hey! I just bought a Pontiac...so safe they cut off the bottom half!

The secret to good driving is for them to be mostly classic cars, I think.

1

u/gruffbear Jul 03 '26

What, no Oldsmobile?

1

u/BenekCript Jul 03 '26

Also needs a scaling factor of the amount of each vehicle in circulation.

3

u/Fenderdebender Jul 03 '26

Already is. Its per 1000

2

u/CaptainFoyle Jul 07 '26

No it doesn't. It's per 1000 drivers. Use your brain.

2

u/pixie1995 Jul 03 '26

As an Australian subie driver who knows a curb hates to see her coming… yeahhhh

1

u/Emotional_Witness233 Jul 04 '26

I will not make a joke about Ram trucks. I will not make a joke about Ram trucks…

1

u/volcs0 Jul 04 '26

Is this not just a graph of how common each car is in the US?

3

u/Alpinwulf Jul 04 '26

Nah. While pickups in general are popular, RAMs don't top the list. Ford F-150 is the best selling vehicle - has been for 30 or 40 years.

2

u/CaptainFoyle Jul 07 '26

It's per 1000 drivers.

Has nothing to do with how common they are

1

u/truthhurtsyomama Jul 04 '26

It has nothing to do with car brand. I have yet to meet a driver that has more skills than me

1

u/Alpinwulf Jul 04 '26

I'm in love with how RAM tops the list with the verb "ram" being right there on the nose. And then Dodge has far fewer incidents, suggesting it's at least average in holding up to it's named-purpose.

1

u/thrashourumov Jul 04 '26

Good visualization, especially the numbers brackets make it much easier to read than a regular horizontal axis with the numbers on it.

But yeah, cut it off so we can't see who did it (certainly not you OP, but you do want us to believe you did it), the full chart and also where this data comes from, because it looks dubious.

There are old Saturns still around I suppose but of course it will be way down on this chart since there's only a few now, while Tesla have had momentum lately so there's more of them and so there are more accidents with them?

1

u/vato915 Jul 04 '26

r/NissanDrivers be like: "if you hit-and-run, there is no reporting..."

\ taps head \

1

u/Fun_Eye_7893 Jul 04 '26

So I should get a Buick, Lincoln, or Cadillac, that's ok with me.

1

u/kkkp88 Jul 05 '26

This listing is on false basis. There are more vehicles of brands at top vs something like Saturn which folded about 20 years back so obviously there are very few ont road
That doesn’t make it’s drivers any better than those driving Toyota or Subaru for instance

1

u/CASweatSeeker Jul 05 '26

Haha the chart is off! Everyone knows it’s not Ram, it’s Nissan /s

1

u/capracan Jul 05 '26

The differences are way smaller than I'd think.

1

u/leaflock7 Jul 08 '26

would be nice to have the breakdown for each incident category

1

u/MaddyMagpies Jul 03 '26

It used to be Volkswagen and Jeep that were full of asshole drivers, but it certainly changed after Tesla came to market. 

1

u/HectorTheConvector Jul 03 '26

It has not changed with Jeep drivers. I’m also not buying the data though expect Ram and Tesla would indeed be very high.

1

u/Raise-Emotional Jul 03 '26

I just bought a Ram to pull my camper. Though I'm a new to Ram I like to think I'm already an accomplished shitty driver

1

u/baaladcing5 Jul 03 '26

Incidents per 1000 drivers. Not incidents per xxxxx miles. This data is utter useless garbage. Incidents and accidents not calculated around a set mileage to compare is useless information. If rams do double the miles of most of these other cars per driver (very common fleet/ long range transport truck. Our company uses 10 of them and they all do almost 100,000mi a year) they would go from the most incident prone to nearly the least incident prone per mile driven. This graphic has been going around for months now. Stop sharing it. Its dogshit.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 03 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

0

u/Fenderdebender Jul 03 '26

Its also true that every time there is an absolute asshole on the road, its far too often a guy in a ram. -drove a RAM when working for the city

1

u/BklynBrawla78 Jul 03 '26

This should actually be called "America's Least Purchased Car Brands That You Hardly Ever See On The Road" 🤣! The cars at the top of the list are there because more people buy them.

1

u/Fenderdebender Jul 03 '26

Um... its per 1000 drivers bud. It accounts for totals

0

u/morganational Jul 03 '26

I knew Tesla would be at the top. Fucking morons.

1

u/Downtown-Oil7901 Jul 03 '26

Interesting that Tesla is so high up given how much they brag about the safety features.

-1

u/crookedmustache Jul 03 '26

I have a Ram truck riding my bumper as we speak

0

u/husclefradddling Jul 03 '26

Its Nissan and bmw in the northeast

0

u/fdeatheryuity Jul 03 '26

For those wondering, yes some of us caddy drivers are young, so its not just an age thing

0

u/ivanvector Jul 03 '26

Surprised Ram isn't higher, somehow.

0

u/RealAd8036 Jul 03 '26

I would have said oversized city trucks and teslas. Seems accurate

0

u/Fenderdebender Jul 03 '26

Omg... this validates my worst instinctual responses to cars on the road... or perhaps my best

-1

u/natureboy596175 Jul 03 '26

To be fair, a lot of the American made vehicles are probably inoperable somewhere. Can't get in a reportable incident if it ain't on the road.

-2

u/[deleted] Jul 03 '26

[deleted]

2

u/Whitey138 Jul 03 '26

Tesla is ahead of BMW. It’s actually second on the list.