Tesla executive responds to claims of high fatal accident rate

A Tesla executive has responded to a study that claimed the company’s vehicles have the highest rate of fatal accidents across automotive brands, noting that regulators and other industry experts have actually called them some of the safest vehicles on the road.

Following a report from iSeeCars earlier this month that said Tesla’s vehicles had the highest rate of fatal accidents and that the Model Y and S were on the most dangerous cars list, Tesla VP of Vehicle Engineering Lars Moravy has responded.

In a post on X on Friday responding to the story, Moravy called iSeeCars “clickbait,” adding that it is not an actual U.S. safety regulator. He chalked it up to the math being incorrect, saying that the publication may have a “bad denominator in the per mile calculations” of fatal accidents, especially with the amount of miles Tesla’s vehicles have actually been driven.

The executive also highlighted the fact that Tesla’s vehicles have regularly been called out as some of the safest cars on the road, with Model Y units having driven over 7 billion total miles in the U.S., and the Model 3 around 19 billion.

“Fatal accidents are tragic – we aim to avoid them, safety 1st,” Moravy wrote in the post. “This math is incorrect – crash test data is real; Teslas are among the safest cars. Maybe a bad denominator in the per mile calc, by end 2022, US MY miles driven >7B, M3 ~19B. iSeecars=clickbait – not safety regulator.”

The study analyzed data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA’s) Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) of model year 2018 to 2022 vehicles with accidents resulting in at least one fatality. The fatal accident rate overall is 2.8 per billion miles, while the study says Tesla’s vehicles had 5.6 per billion miles.

“Most of these vehicles received excellent safety ratings, performing well in crash tests at the IIHS and NHTSA, so it’s not a vehicle design issue,” writes iSeeCars Executive Analyst Karl Brauer in the study. “The models on this list likely reflect a combination of driver behavior and driving conditions, leading to increased crashes and fatalities.”

Tesla’s focus on vehicle safety and how it performs in crash testing

Tesla has regularly touted its vehicle safety over the years, and its claims have been corroborated by various crash and safety tests and real-world scenarios.

In 2021, the Model Y joined Tesla’s other three vehicles at the time with a five-star safety rating from the NHTSA, which is a top auto safety regulator in the U.S. A study from the NHTSA also suggested that Tesla’s vehicles were among the auto brands that were least likely to be involved in an accident.

The Model Y has also secured the Top Safety Pick Plus designation from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) every year since 2021, even after the non-profit tightened up its standards this year.

Tesla also has a web page dedicated to the safety of its vehicles, which you can see here, along with releasing a vehicle safety report for every quarter. You can also see the original story from iSeeCars here.

What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.

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Source: https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-executive-responds-fatal-accident/