Deaths in Car Crashes Have Fallen by about a Quarter in the Last Decade

Deaths in car crashes have fallen by about a quarter in the last decade, new federal data released on Friday show, as safety features built into the latest models have powered a drop in fatalities even as auto-safety recalls have surged.

The fall in deaths in newer cars has been especially sharp, a Wall Street Journal analysis of federal data shows. The number of fatalities in the latest model released each year has fallen by nearly two-thirds in the past decade. In 2013, new cars had a lower fatality rate than cars fresh off the line did just a few years earlier.

Victoria Easterday of Asheville, N.C. totaled her 2009 
Subaru Forester two years ago when she fainted because 
of a then-undiagnosed heart condition. She credits her 
car’s structural supports with saving her life. 
Victoria Easterday

Overall, auto deaths fell 3.1% last year over the prior year and the number of people injured in auto crashes fell 2.1%, according to figures released Friday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Safety improvements, in particular electronic stability control systems that make vehicles less likely to flip, are responsible for at least part of the drop in deaths, according to auto-safety and industry experts.

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David Zuby, executive vice president and research chief at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, said many factors, including driver behavior, could influence fatality rates from year to year. But generally speaking “cars are getting safer,” he said.

“Stability control is huge,” said John Capp, director of global vehicle safety for General Motors. “It’s head and shoulders above any other technology, since the seat belt, in terms of effectiveness.”

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