Yikes.
Accident Prone
It’s not just you — as it turns out, Teslas are astonishingly prone to being involved in accidents.
According to a recent analysis of 30 car brands by online lending marketplace LendingTree, Tesla drivers have the highest accident rate out of all of them. Between November 2022 and November 2023, based on tens of millions of insurance quotes, Tesla drivers were involved in 23.54 accidents per 1,000 drivers. Ram truck drivers were a close second, at 22.76.
The award for worst overall drivers, however, went to Ram, which had the highest incident rates — counting accidents but also DUIs, speeding tickets, and other citations — overall, with Tesla being a close second.
The news comes as two million Tesla vehicles recently had to be recalled over safety concerns related to the company’s infamous driver assistance software called Autopilot. The feature has already been under scrutiny by regulators for years with critics pointing out that Tesla’s misleading marketing may give drivers a false sense of security and fool them into thinking their vehicles can drive by themselves.
Zipping Around
LendingTree’s data isn’t entirely conclusive as to the exact cause of the accidents, and it also doesn’t delve into questions of who was at fault.
Nonetheless, its conclusion about the Elon Musk-led EV maker shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. Tesla actively seeks to attract thrill seekers who are after sports car-level acceleration. Insuring these vehicles can also be extremely expensive.
“Most people who drive minivans seem more interested in getting their kids around town safely than they are in zipping around in a high-horsepower vehicle,” said LendingTree insurance expert Rob Bhatt in a statement.
According to the analysis, the car brand with the most DUIs was BMW — and it wasn’t even close. The number of DUIS was 3.13 per 1,000 drivers, compared to just 1.72 for Ram, the second highest DUI rate. In that category, Tesla drivers did great, coming in at number 20.
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