Car Death Statistics

Also see: Car Crash Report and Car Injury Report

Since 1996, American car owners have reported 1,881 car deaths to the U.S. Department of Transportation for vehicles built by the 31 automakers that we track. The car deaths that we study in this article are results of car problems. Table 1 shows the most common car problems that caused the deaths since year 1996. Table 2 shows the number of car deaths reported each year due to these car problems. Table 3 shows the number of car deaths by production year.

Common causes of car deaths

Table 1 shows the most common car problems that caused car deaths. The number one cause of car deaths is failure of the air bags. The next two leading causes of car deaths are vehicle speed control and steering, respectively.

Table 1. Common causes of car deaths

Car Problem Category	Number of Car Deaths
Air Bags	515
Vehicle Speed Control	191
Steering	138
Seat Belts	120
Tires	115
Hydraulic Service Brakes	115
Electrical System	98
Power Train	83
Engine And Engine Cooling	82
Structure	80
Equipment	78
Suspension	53
Seats	36
Gasoline Fuel System	34
Unknown Or Other	29
Electronic Stability Control	23
Wheels	18
Visibility	18
Other Fuel System	16
Latches/locks/linkages	12
Exterior Lighting	8
Air Service Brakes	7
Parking Brake	6
Child Seat	4
Diesel Fuel System	1
Traction Control System	1

Total number of car deaths by year

Table 2 shows the number of deaths reported each year since 1996. 2003 had the most deaths reported (130 deaths) and 1996 had the least deaths with 7 deaths reported.

Table 2. Total Number of deaths reported each year since 1996

Calendar Year	Number of car Deaths
1996	7
1997	22
1998	32
1999	88
2000	93
2001	88
2002	70
2003	130
2004	97
2005	103
2006	100
2007	63
2008	111
2009	115
2010	87
2011	52
2012	68
2013	86
2014	120
2015	96
2016	90
2017	81
2018	6

Total number of car deaths by model year

Table 3 shows the number of deaths reported for vehicles manufactured from year 1996 to 2018. Cars made in 2001 had the most deaths with 163 deaths reported and cars produced in 2016 (current year is excluded) had the least deaths with 7 deaths reported.

Table 3. Total Number of deaths reported for vehicles built since 1996

Production Year	Number of Deaths
1996 vehicles	131
1997 vehicles	129
1998 vehicles	117
1999 vehicles	120
2000 vehicles	135
2001 vehicles	163
2002 vehicles	143
2003 vehicles	118
2004 vehicles	119
2005 vehicles	100
2006 vehicles	131
2007 vehicles	94
2008 vehicles	100
2009 vehicles	44
2010 vehicles	28
2011 vehicles	34
2012 vehicles	48
2013 vehicles	33
2014 vehicles	34
2015 vehicles	33
2016 vehicles	7
2017 vehicles	3

Also see: Car Crash Report and Car Injury Report