PASSENGER VEHICLE CRASH INVOLVEMENT RATES BY VEHICLE MODEL YEAR

An estimated 11 million passenger vehicles were involved in motor vehicle crashes in 2000 and in 2001. This total reflects a crash involvement rate of over 20 passenger vehicles per minute for the years covered in this study. It also indicates that about 5% or one in every 20 passenger vehicles registered in the U.S. was involved in a motor vehicle crash in each of these years. These statistics come from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), which contains data on traffic crashes that involve a fatality and from the National Automotive Sampling System General Estimates System (NASS-GES), which is a database containing a sample of police reported motor vehicle crashes that result in property damage or injury from which estimates are calculated. The estimates reported are subject to sampling error since they are not based on a census of all crashes. Vehicle registration data are compiled by R.L. Polk and Company in the National Vehicle Population Profile (NVPP). Every year, new vehicle models are introduced to the marketplace. This research note reports the rate at which these passenger vehicles are involved in traffic crashes of different severity and the involvement rates per registered vehicle by the model year of the vehicle. Vehicles involved in crashes are classified into three types based on the most severe injuries sustained in the crash: fatal crashes, injury crashes, and property damage only crashes. Overall involvement rates reflect all three types of crashes.