Worst drivers, broken out by brand and by state

[Laconian]

https://www.lendingtree.com/insurance/brand-incidents-study/

Across 30 car brands analyzed, Ram has the worst drivers. Nationally, Ram drivers had 32.90 driving incidents (accidents, DUIs, speeding and citations) per 1,000 drivers from Nov. 14, 2022, through Nov. 14, 2023. Tesla (31.13) and Subaru (30.09) were the only other brands whose drivers had incident rates above 30.00.

Mercury has the best drivers in the year analyzed. Mercury drivers had 15.82 incidents per 1,000 drivers nationally — less than half the rate of incidents among Ram drivers. Pontiac (16.24) and Saturn (16.84) followed.

Looking closer, Ram has the worst drivers in 23 states. That means Ram drivers had the highest incident rates of any brand analyzed in nearly half of all U.S. states. Of the states where Ram dominated, drivers were worst in Massachusetts at 64.44 incidents per 1,000 drivers. Meanwhile, Tesla drivers were the worst in 11 states — the only other brand in the double digits.

Tesla drivers have the highest accident rate. From Nov. 14, 2022, through Nov. 14, 2023, Tesla drivers had 23.54 accidents per 1,000 drivers. Ram (22.76) and Subaru (20.90) were the only other brands with more than 20.00 accidents per 1,000 drivers. Meanwhile, Pontiac (8.41), Mercury (8.96) and Saturn (9.13) were the only brands with fewer than 10.00 accidents per 1,000 drivers.

BMW drivers have the highest DUI rate by a wide margin. BMW drivers had 3.13 DUIs per 1,000 drivers — nearly twice the rate of DUIs among Ram drivers (1.72), the next-highest ranking auto brand. On the other end, Mitsubishi (0.89), Volvo (0.92), and Mercury and Kia drivers (both 0.93) had the lowest DUI rates. Just nine of the 30 brands analyzed had DUI rates below 1.00 among their drivers.

[GoCougs]

Mos def back up my anecdotal experience, esp. the diesel variety. As if pickups can't get any worse, here "Cummins" the diesel Rams, the slowest, loudest and smelliest of them all. LSEs gone MF wild out here. It's officially an epidemic. Since Ram is a truck-only brand, what would it look like if Ford and GM stats were broken out by pickups? Much higher I surmise.

[afty]

I notice this data is normalized by driver, but really you'd want to know the incident or accident rate per mile driven. That's why Mercury has the lowest incident rate — they're just not driven very much.

[r0tor]

I think Subaru must be getting saved by a contingent of grandmothers to offset all of the teenage idiots

[afty]

I think Subaru must be getting saved by a contingent of grandmothers to offset all of the teenage idiots

When I think of Subaru I think of people in Maine driving LL Bean edition Outbacks through the snow. Maybe that's part of why their accident rate is high — because they are often driven in bad weather conditions.

[Laconian]

As someone who lives on a windy road on a hill, when I think of Subaru I think of vape bros going 50 over the limit in mufferless WRXen.

Subarus are also popular among the outdoorsy set but there are really a LOT of delinquents blatting around.

[AutobahnSHO]

Yup Subaru is highly populated at both the conservative and crazy ends of the driver spectrum.

[Laconian]

I notice this data is normalized by driver, but really you'd want to know the incident or accident rate per mile driven. That's why Mercury has the lowest incident rate — they're just not driven very much.

Another zombie brand, Saturn, is at the bottom of the list. Probably a car only used for going to church on Sundays.

[GoCougs]

As someone who lives on a windy road on a hill, when I think of Subaru I think of vape bros going 50 over the limit in mufferless WRXen.

Subarus are also popular among the outdoorsy set but there are really a LOT of delinquents blatting around.

Also popular with yutes and tweakers IME.

[Morris Minor]

Outbacks and Foresters are very popular here; we're talking the 60 & up group.