Study shows Tesla owners have most car accidents, but Ram has the worst drivers

Lee Duna@lemmy.nz to Technology@lemmy.world – 358 points –
Study shows Tesla owners have most car accidents, but Ram has the worst drivers
techspot.com
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Tesla crashes because they don't have anyone driving.

RAMs crash because they have someone driving.

They are not the same.

Afaik most Tesla accidents are due to people not used to such a powerful car / acceleration and bump into stuff? I don’t think the majority of insurance cases for Tesla has anything to do with self driving.

Lol. I have a 2500, and it's borderline too much truck, even in my line of work. It's flat out stupid for just day to day commuting. And their marketing sure does go after egomaniacal dumdums.

Ram trucks drive like fucking assholes so I believe this. Damn near any time you see one of those lifted Dodge trucks on the highway you can assume they’ll behave like a jerk if given the opportunity.

And as far as Teslas go, I really do not think people should have cars that accelerate that fast. People are dumb as shit and Tesla’s slowest model has a 0-60 of under 6 seconds and a lot of their cars are sub 4 seconds. That’s super car territory.

Super car acceleration, normal car braking.

It's not a great combination in a car that's heavy, but I guess you don't sell cars by bragging about braking distances.

Tires moreso than brakes. Ultra low rolling resistance tires help increase range. But they're crap for high acceleration/deceleration. Not sticky enough (by design) to work in those situations.

Plus they are designed to have low amount of aerodynamic drag. So no aerodynamic grip in fast corners.

On most public roads, if you're driving fast enough for downforce to be an issue, your poor judgment is the primary factor in any resulting crash.

Which is true but not any different than normal cars. Very very very few cars have enough aero to matter—even on the track.

They dropped to second place for DUIs at least. BMW drivers are nearly twice as likely to be caught driving drunk.

Ram trucks also are the #1 vehicle for DUIs in the US.

The Venn diagram for Ram trucks, domestic abuse, DUIs, religiosity, and racist fucks is indistinguishable from a circle.

Also gun ownership and wife beating probably

And a hard drive full of cold pizza

Truck nuts and racist bumper/rear windshield stickers are a must haves

As someone who has done racing on a track and has felt 0-60 in 2.9 seconds, most people wouldnt even be cabile of keeping the car in its lane. And most ram drivers are pure dicks.

As someone who has floored it in a Tesla with no racing experience, it really isn't hard to stay in the lane.

I drive a lifted RAM and in the last twelve months three people have hit me. Two were in Subarus. One was drunk.

That seems pretty high. You are bringing those numbers up.

I agree, but what to do about owners of supercars then? It's not like if they have any particular training to operate them safely, for the most part.

The numbers are bullshit and this isn’t even a study. It’s an analyses of insurance data that was done wrong.

The top 3 “safest” cars are all makes and models that are no longer in production. Mercury, the #1, hasn’t made a new vehicle since 2011, Pontiac since 2009, and Saturn since 2010.

It’s a bullshit story.

And all it analyzes is people's driving record and the current model of vehicle they're trying to insure. Someone who got rear-ended in a Honda and had their car totaled who is now trying to insure their new Tesla would be included in this even though they didn't crash their Tesla nor were they at fault for the accident.

I love it when my bias is confirmed. I bet there's a German word for this feeling.

Verdachtvalidierung (I don't speak German I just translated "suspicion" and "validation" and made a compound word from that. Looks legit to me.)

It’s not confirmed. The “study” is faulty.

Even the site hosting the study includes a huge disclaimer stating that it's just the author's personal opinion.

PSA: This “study” is crap.

Link to actual study

They base their findings on incidents per driver, not per mile driven. Maybe the “safest” drivers here just…don’t drive their vehicles all that much?

Also, like you said.. incidents, not accidents.

accidents, DUIs, speeding and citations

Which I bet includes things like parking tickets and all that. Tbh, seems like most "studies" posted to Lemmy are crap tbh

Another thing about Teslas is that even a slight fender bender that does no damage to an older car will cause damage. The bumpers are full of sensors, all pastic, and repairs are expensive.

I wonder if more minor accidents are reported in Teslas causing the numbers to be higher?

Plastic front and end panel is pretty standard and since they are expensive cars its no wonder they cost a ton to repair, like if you bump into a Mercedes s class that's not cheap either.

You can shit on teslas for a lot of reasons but I don't think yours is valid as being tesla specific

I own a tesla. My comment is not a dig on the car, but a possible explanation for the increased accident rate.

The bumpers are full of sensors, all pastic, and repairs are expensive.

This is the same for all semi-modern cars. Plastic bumbers, even without sensors in them, are surprisingly expensive even on cheaper cars. But the good thing about plastic bumbers, is that they are fairly elastic and most often just bounce back into shape after the amount of deformation a slight fender bender can cause. And scratches are only a cosmetic concern since they can't rust.

Also, Tesla removed the ultrasonic sensors from both front and rear bumpers a while back.

I think this study is incomplete.

Since this study is based on a ratio of accidents vs sold car. Newer cars models have less idle car, helping the statistics of older car models/companies. Given that Tesla and other more price models, will use insurance for minors damage, do to the cost of reparation vs lost sales value.

At Codan, it is Kia's electric cars that top the damage statistics, closely followed by Tesla's and Hyundai's electric cars. Richvoldsen emphasizes that it is Kia's electric cars that top the list, and that the damage statistics do not apply to fossil fuel-powered Kia cars.

https://www.tu.no/artikler/tesla-har-92-prosent-oftere-skader-enn-fossilbiler-br/484354

In this study, Subaru had 30 incidents per 1000 driver's, and Tesla had 31. Why don't I hear anyone bitching about Subarus?

Headline: Tesla drives desperate to show they're not this biggest assholes on the road.

I have a feeling this list would be very different if motorcycle brands were in the mix as well.

Not sure I believe the statistics in this study seeing as they list a number of legacy brands, such as Saturn.

Did all Saturns disappear from the roads when that brand closed shop?

No, but it’s incredibly suspect that the top 3 cars are all cars that haven’t been produced since 2011 at the latest.

I’m amazed at how many Saturns and Pontiacs I still see on the road.

Why? Just bc the brand doesn't operate anymore doesn't mean those cars vanished from the roads. There's still Saturns and mercuries out there being driven daily.

It's suspicious that all three top slots went to vehicles that haven't been produced in ~15 years. It clearly indicates (among numerous other things) something wrong with the data/analysis. I have major doubts that someone currently driving a clapped out 1995 Pontiac Grand Prix is the safest driver on the road.

Got it, thanks. Sounds like the datas misrepresented, at best. I tried to look for myself but ooph those tables were responsive but not mobile friendly

All the top “safest” cars are legacy brands. They fucked up their analysis.