Toyota Yaris, Most Injuries per Crash Study Says
Toyota Yaris has the most injuries per crash than any other vehicle in the industry, stated a study done about insurance company injury claims. This proves that hip and fuel economy comes with a price and if you get into a Yaris, it may end up costing you more than you expect.
Toyota Yaris (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
According to the Commercial Appeal online publication, the Highway Loss Data Institute performed a study that captured insurance data for personal injury claim filings for vehicles models ranging from year 2009 through 2011 vehicle and uncovered the greatest offender – the Yaris. For every 1,000 Yaris vehicles the industry insured, 28.5 times, Yaris occupants filed the personal injury claims – making it the greatest offender. Perhaps the study is unfair because of seating capacity (two seats versus five), the study uncovered that the Porsche 911 sports car had the best rate of filing rate. Occupants filed only 4.5 injury claims per every 1,000 of the 911 models.
Another interesting find during the test proved that the vehicles with the highest injury claims tend to be small cars, which pins data to the belief that bigger vehicles are safer when it comes to crashes. This insight would helpful to crash tests conducted by federal safety regulators and the insurance industry according to CA.
“Injury claims data show something that crash test results can’t, and that’s the role that vehicle size plays,” said Kim Hazelbaker, HLDI senior vice president. According to the VP, the advantage of having greater size and weight is masked by using a fixed barrier in a crash test. Therefore, crash test results should be comparable only amongst similar vehicles. What the numbers in the data uncovered was that occupants in certain vehicles should expect to be injured when it comes to a real life test.
“We know that in the real world, if all else is equal, a larger, heavier vehicle does a better job protecting occupants than a smaller, lighter one,” Hazelbaker said.
Coming in at number two according to the study is the Suzuki SX4; the small crossover vehicle posted 26.6 injuries per every 1,000 insured same model vehicles. It was followed in by the Chevrolet Aveo, Mitsubishi Galant, Kia Rio, Nissan’s Versa and Sentra, Hyundai Accent and the Dodge Avenger – these vehicles also had poor scores according to the study.
On the bright side, vehicles that had better scores were the Chevrolet Corvette and Silverado, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Lexus LX 570, Mercedes-Benz SL-class convertible, Ford F-150, Land Rover Range Rover and Cadillac Escalade.
Small vehicles are economic, they save money when it comes to fuel, and often cost less but the cost of an accident may quickly make the difference between having bought a bigger vehicle. If you have been injured in a small vehicle contact our personal injury attorneys today!
Reviewed by Chris H. in 2012.