Dying in a crash has become much less likely than it used to be for people in all types of passenger vehicles. For occupants of SUVs, the change has been dramatic. In the past, the top-heavy vehicles frequently rolled over, giving many models some of the highest driver death rates.

But drivers of today’s SUVs are among the least likely to die in a crash, the Institute’s latest calculations of driver death rates show. The change is due largely to the widespread availability
of electronic stability control (ESC), which helps prevent rollovers. With the propensity to roll over reduced, SUVs are on balance safer than cars because their bigger size and weight provide greater protection in a crash.

The overall driver death rate for 2005-08 models during 2006-09 was 48 per million registered vehicle years. Rates for each of the more than 150 vehicles span a huge range from 0 for 7 models to 143 for the Nissan 350Z sports car. When the rates are looked at by vehicle style, minivans have the best record with a driver death rate of 25. SUVs aren’t far behind at 28.
Pickups average 52 driver deaths per million registration years. Cars average 56, but smaller cars fare worse than bigger ones. For example, 4-door minicars have a death rate of 82, compared with 46 for very large 4-doors. “The rollover risk in SUVs used to outweigh their size/weight advantage, but that’s no longer the case, thanks to ESC,” says Anne McCartt, the Institute’s senior vice president for research.