NHTSA’s National Center for Statistics and Analysis   400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590 

Passenger Vehicle Occupant Fatality Rates by Type and Size of Vehicle  

By Rajesh Subramanian*   Summary  The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has routinely published (NHTSA, 2005) passenger vehicle occupant fatality rates, both overall and in vehicles that rolled over, by the type of the vehicle, such as passenger cars, SUVs, pickup trucks or vans.  These categories of vehicles are broad and may mask differences in rates that might exist between vehicles of different sizes within a type.  This Research Note examines the occupant fatality rates by vehicle type and size and found that in all fatal crashes, when broken down by size, compact cars have the highest occupant fatality rate while the “large vans” category has the lowest occupant fatality rate.  Among vehicles that rolled over, midsize SUVs have the highest occupant fatality rate while large passenger cars have the lowest occupant fatality rate.    Background This Research Note examines the fatality rate to occupants of passenger vehicles involved in fatal motor vehicle traffic 

crashes by the type and size of the vehicle.  Data from 1997 to 2004 have been presented to show trends in occupant fatality rates.  One of NHTSA’s primary goals is to reduce the passenger vehicle occupant fatality rate.  Reducing fatalities in vehicles that roll over is a major component of that goal.  Therefore, occupant fatality rates in vehicles that rolled over are also presented in this Research Note.  The rates are presented per 100,000 registered vehicles.  As shown in Figure 1, the occupant fatality rates in all fatal crashes for passenger cars, SUVs, and pickup trucks are similar but higher than the rates for vans.  In 2004, while the occupant fatality rates per 100,000 registered vehicle passenger cars, SUVs, and pickup trucks were around 15, the rate for vans was 10.75.  Among vehicles that rolled over, the occupant fatality rates for SUVs are the highest followed by the rates for pickup trucks, vans, and passenger cars.  In 2004, in fatal crashes where a rollover occurred, the occupant fatality rate per 100,000 registered vehicles for SUVs was 9.29, 6.72 for pickup trucks, 3.66 for vans, and 3.25 for passenger cars. 

While these rates by the major vehicle classifications have been routinely published by NHTSA, rates among vehicle types by the size of the vehicle have not been presented.  While only a rigorous statistical model can best determine the effect of vehicle   

type and size on the occurrence of fatalities and serious injuries, this note simply aims to provide occupant fatality rates by vehicle type and size along purely descriptive lines. 

DOT HS 809 979  January 2006

Figure 1: Occupant Fatality Rate per 100,000 Registered Passenger Vehicles by Type of Vehicle in All Vehicles and Vehicles that Rolled Over, 1997-2004

*Rajesh Subramanian is a researcher working for URC Enterprises, Inc. under contract to NHTSA's NCSA. 

  NHTSA’s National Center for Statistics and Analysis       400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590       2 

Methodology Passenger vehicle sizes can be defined by length, width, wheelbase, or the weight of the vehicle.  Ideally, a classification based on a uniform criterion is desirable.  However, restrictions in terms of availability of defining variables in crash data, as well as registration data, do not make such a classification feasible.  However, a measure of classification has already been outlined by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI D-16, 6th ed. Section 2.2.11) which has also been adopted by the National Center for Statistics and Analysis (NCSA) Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). The passenger vehicles have been classified by size as depicted in Table 1.   

 Table 1: Passenger Vehicle Classification Criteria 

Vehicle Type Size Criteria Subcompact Wheelbase: Under 100 in. Compact Wheelbase: 100-104 in. Midsize Wheelbase 105-109 in. 

Passenger Cars 

Full-size Wheelbase > 109 inches Minivans Unibody Vans Vans Large Vans1 Frame based Vans Midsize Wheelbase > 88 inches 

Width: 66-75 inches SUVs 

Full-size Wheelbase > 88 inches Width: 75+ inches 

Compact Under 4,500 lbs. Pickup Trucks Standard Over 4,500 lbs. 

 The registration data used in this report are abstracted from R.L.Polk & Company’s National Vehicle Population Profile (NVPP) – a snapshot of the passenger vehicle fleet in the United States as of July 1 of each year.  NHTSA has recoded each model of the NVPP data based on the classifications outlined in Table 1.  Results Results by Vehicle Type and Size  This section presents the fatality rates by the size of the vehicle within a vehicle type.  For example, fatality rates for passenger cars have been provided for subcompact, compact, midsize, and full-size cars.  In 2004, compact cars, subcompact cars, compact pickup trucks, and midsize SUVs had higher total occupant fatality rates as compared to other vehicle types, while large vans had the lowest rate.  Among vehicles that rolled over, midsize SUVs as well as full-size SUVs had higher occupant fatality rates while the large passenger car category had the lowest occupant fatality rate.  These results are illustrated in Tables 2 and 3. 

                                                 1 Includes vans that are used to transport cargo as well as vans used to transport passengers, i.e., 12/15-Passenger Vans, Conversion Vans, etc.. 

 Table 2: Total Occupant Fatality Rates per 100,000 

Registered Vehicles by Vehicle Type and Size, 2004 Vehicle Type and Size Rate 

Compact Cars 17.76 Compact Pickups 16.87 Subcompact Cars 16.85 Midsize SUVs  16.16 Standard Pickups 13.87 Full-size SUVs  12.34 Full-size Cars 12.16 Midsize Cars 11.49 Minivans 11.09 Large Vans2 9.34  

Table 3: Occupant Fatality Rates in Vehicles That Rolled Over, per 100,000 Registered Vehicles by 

Vehicle Type and Size, 2004 Vehicle Type and Size Rate 

Midsize SUVs 9.86 Full-size SUVs  7.92 Compact Pickups 7.19 Standard Pickups 6.38 Compact Cars 4.24 Large Vans 4.04 Subcompact Cars 3.62 Minivans 3.45 Midsize Cars 2.71 Full-size Cars 2.47  Figures 2 through 5 depict the occupant fatality rates for passenger vehicles by the type and size of the vehicles in all crashes as well as crashes in which a rollover occurred.  In recent years, the occupant fatality rates in all crashes seem to be trending flat or downwards for all vehicle types and sizes.  Among vehicles that rolled over, the rates are also flat or trending downward except for full-size SUVs, where there is a recent upward trend.  In terms of relative differences between vehicle types, subcompact cars, compact cars and compact pickup trucks have the highest overall occupant fatality rate while large vans and minivans have the lowest occupant fatality rate.  Among vehicles that rolled over, midsize and full-size cars had the lowest occupant fatality rate while midsize SUVs had the highest occupant fatality rate.  

                                                 2 Because the largest proportion included in this rate are cargo and other commercial vans, this or any other rate for large vans in the Research Note should not be used to make assessments of the fatality rate to the occupants of 15-Passenger Vans.  While large vans have the lowest occupant fatality rate, past NHTSA research has shown that for 15-Passenger Vans, the risk of rollover increases with occupancy. 

  NHTSA’s National Center for Statistics and Analysis       400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590       3 

Figure 2: Occupant Fatality Rate per 100,000 Registered Passenger Cars by Size in All Vehicles and Vehicles that Rolled Over, 1997-2004 

Figure 3: Occupant Fatality Rate per 100,000 Registered Vans by Size in All Vehicles and Vehicles that Rolled Over, 1997-2004 

Figure 4: Occupant Fatality Rate per 100,000 Registered SUVs by Size in All Vehicles and Vehicles that Rolled Over, 1997-2004 

Figure 5: Occupant Fatality Rate per 100,000 Registered Pickup Trucks by Size in All Vehicles and Vehicles that Rolled Over, 1997-2004 

  NHTSA’s National Center for Statistics and Analysis       400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590       4 

 Table 4: Registered Passenger Vehicles by Vehicle Type and Size, 1997-2004 

Type and Size 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 Passenger Vehicles 191,960,390 195,749,209 200,012,521 203,913,482 207,719,870 211,992,662 216,729,606 223,213,958 Cars 124,672,920 125,965,709 126,868,744 127,740,420 128,874,299 130,196,812 131,549,941 133,275,377 

Subcompact 30,275,524 29,180,185 27,979,452 26,760,764 25,619,810 24,571,274 23,148,380 21,851,909 Compact 36,139,144 36,913,085 37,094,457 37,323,021 37,554,060 37,781,267 38,297,173 38,318,494 Midsize 29,531,161 31,369,741 33,390,540 35,580,282 37,470,777 39,229,025 40,793,931 42,654,513 

Full-size 28,727,091 28,502,698 28,404,295 28,056,742 28,069,375 28,325,231 28,832,982 29,642,017 Vans 16,159,473 16,718,727 17,323,154 17,890,186 18,226,000 18,382,607 18,555,362 18,931,753 

Minivans 10,312,124 10,992,409 11,723,593 12,431,565 12,882,988 13,221,220 13,491,379 13,856,151 Large Vans 5,844,175 5,723,193 5,596,603 5,455,819 5,340,375 5,158,902 5,061,582 5,072,354 

SUVs 14,531,850 16,247,573 18,401,488 20,726,979 22,995,533 25,521,939 28,354,796 31,415,143 Midsize 10,128,214 11,369,629 13,265,658 14,991,841 16,726,433 18,736,041 20,871,314 23,246,926 

Full-size 3,601,079 4,092,926 4,655,935 5,298,616 5,880,436 6,438,417 7,168,909 7,875,001 Pickup Trucks 34,314,455 34,819,388 35,653,344 36,118,236 36,389,196 36,792,345 37,288,653 38,557,291 

Compact 13,679,034 13,675,186 13,826,540 13,766,295 13,550,444 13,248,588 13,245,677 13,426,656 Standard 20,635,421 21,144,202 21,826,804 22,351,941 22,838,752 23,543,757 24,042,976 25,124,684 

Fatalities in All Crashes by Vehicle Type and Size, 1997-2004 Passenger Vehicles 32,448 31,899 32,127 32,225 32,043 32,843 32,271 31,693 Cars 22,199 21,194 20,862 20,699 20,320 20,569 19,725 19,091 

Subcompact 6,838 6,012 5,504 5,291 4,886 4,674 4,073 3,681 Compact 7,992 7,589 7,432 7,525 7,211 7,348 7,013 6,807 Midsize 3,308 3,273 3,556 4,115 4,426 4,709 4,857 4,900 

Full-size 3,924 4,303 4,365 3,744 3,765 3,775 3,682 3,603 Vans 1,914 2,042 2,088 2,129 2,019 2,109 2,080 2,036 

Minivans 1,191 1,360 1,412 1,448 1,416 1,577 1,504 1,536 Large Vans 665 638 634 650 563 497 547 474 

SUVs 2,380 2,713 3,026 3,358 3,530 4,031 4,483 4,735 Midsize 1,932 2,171 2,489 2,736 2,878 3,205 3,606 3,757 

Full-size 442 537 536 619 652 818 875 972 Pickup Trucks 5,887 5,921 6,127 6,003 6,139 6,100 5,957 5,801 

Compact 2,665 2,753 2,761 2,627 2,561 2,463 2,281 2,265 Standard 3,123 3,114 3,319 3,320 3,524 3,588 3,622 3,486 

Fatalities in Vehicles That Rolled Over by Vehicle Type and Size, 1997-2004 Passenger Vehicles 9,527 9,773 10,140 9,959 10,157 10,729 10,442 10,553 Cars 4,765 4,672 4,718 4,548 4,559 4,794 4,464 4,334 

Subcompact 1,587 1,381 1,252 1,189 1,066 1,103 922 790 Compact 1,782 1,747 1,743 1,734 1,721 1,776 1,597 1,624 Midsize 730 778 907 982 1,067 1,173 1,206 1,157 

Full-size 636 763 816 631 697 719 708 731 Vans 768 823 784 771 786 699 728 692 

Minivans 471 529 510 488 522 489 508 478 Large Vans 269 277 259 275 247 202 209 205 

SUVs 1,489 1,705 1,902 2,064 2,149 2,471 2,661 2,920 Midsize 1,218 1,381 1,559 1,695 1,762 1,954 2,117 2,293 

Full-size 266 320 342 366 387 512 544 624 Pickup Trucks 2,479 2,560 2,724 2,558 2,651 2,755 2,580 2,591 

Compact 1,088 1,151 1,197 1,106 1,073 1,049 912 965 Standard 1,351 1,391 1,506 1,429 1,554 1,683 1,644 1,603 

Source: NCSA FARS 1997-2003 (Final) and 2004 (ARF) Files  R.L.Polk & Company National Vehicle Population Profile (NVPP) Data. Note: Totals for vehicle type include counts for vehicles whose size could not be determined using available information.  Counts by vehicle size will not add up to vehicle type totals. 

Table 4 depicts the registration data and the number of fatalities from 1997 to 2004 by the type and the size of the vehicle. 

  NHTSA’s National Center for Statistics and Analysis       400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590       5 

Table 5 depicts the occupant fatality rate per 100,000 registered vehicles from 1997 to 2004 by the type and the size of the vehicle in all crashes and crashes in which a rollover occurred. 

 Table 5: Occupant Fatality Rate per 100,000 Registered Vehicles by Vehicle Type and Size, 1997-2004 

Type and Size 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 Occupant Fatality Rates in All Crashes by Vehicle Type and Size, 1997-2004 

Passenger Vehicles 16.90 16.30 16.06 15.80 15.43 15.49 14.89 14.20Cars 17.81 16.83 16.44 16.20 15.77 15.8 14.99 14.32

Subcompact 22.59 20.60 19.67 19.77 19.07 19.02 17.60 16.85Compact 22.11 20.56 20.04 20.16 19.20 19.45 18.31 17.76Midsize 11.20 10.43 10.65 11.57 11.81 12.00 11.91 11.49

Full-size 13.66 15.10 15.37 13.34 13.41 13.33 12.77 12.16Vans 11.84 12.21 12.05 11.90 11.08 11.47 11.21 10.75

Minivans 11.55 12.37 12.04 11.65 10.99 11.93 11.15 11.09Large Vans 11.38 11.15 11.33 11.91 10.54 9.63 10.81 9.34

SUVs 16.38 16.70 16.44 16.20 15.35 15.79 15.81 15.07Midsize 19.08 19.09 18.76 18.25 17.21 17.11 17.28 16.16

Full-size 12.27 13.12 11.51 11.68 11.09 12.70 12.21 12.34Pickup Trucks 17.16 17.00 17.18 16.62 16.87 16.58 15.98 15.05

Compact 19.48 20.13 19.97 19.08 18.90 18.59 17.22 16.87Standard 15.13 14.73 15.21 14.85 15.43 15.24 15.06 13.87Occupant Fatality Rates in Vehicles That Rolled Over by Vehicle Type and Size, 1997-2004

Passenger Vehicles 4.96 4.99 5.07 4.88 4.89 5.06 4.82 4.73Cars 3.82 3.71 3.72 3.56 3.54 3.68 3.39 3.25

Subcompact 5.24 4.73 4.47 4.44 4.16 4.49 3.98 3.62Compact 4.93 4.73 4.70 4.65 4.58 4.70 4.17 4.24Midsize 2.47 2.48 2.72 2.76 2.85 2.99 2.96 2.71

Full-size 2.21 2.68 2.87 2.25 2.48 2.54 2.46 2.47Vans 4.75 4.92 4.53 4.31 4.31 3.80 3.92 3.66

Minivans 4.57 4.81 4.35 3.93 4.05 3.70 3.77 3.45Large Vans 4.60 4.84 4.63 5.04 4.63 3.92 4.13 4.04

SUVs 10.25 10.49 10.34 9.96 9.35 9.68 9.38 9.29Midsize 12.03 12.15 11.75 11.31 10.53 10.43 10.14 9.86

Full-size 7.39 7.82 7.35 6.91 6.58 7.95 7.59 7.92Pickup Trucks 7.22 7.35 7.64 7.08 7.29 7.49 6.92 6.72

Compact 7.95 8.42 8.66 8.03 7.92 7.92 6.89 7.19Standard 6.55 6.58 6.90 6.39 6.8 7.15 6.84 6.38

Source: NCSA FARS 1997-2003 (Final) and 2004 (ARF) Files  R.L.Polk & Company National Vehicle Population Profile (NVPP) Data. Note: Totals for vehicle type include counts for vehicles whose size could not be determined using available information.  Counts by vehicle size will not add up to vehicle type totals. 

Conclusions The occupant fatality rates show variation by the size of the vehicle within a vehicle type.  In 2004, compact cars had an occupant fatality rate of 17.76 fatalities per 100,000 registered vehicles, followed by compact pickup trucks at 16.87, subcompact cars at 16.85, and midsize SUVs at 16.16.  Large vans had the lowest occupant fatality rate at 9.34.  Among vehicles that rolled over, midsize SUVs had an occupant fatality rate of 9.86 followed by full-size SUVs at 7.92 while full-size cars had the lowest occupant fatality rate at 2.47 fatalities per 100,000 vehicles.    While this Research Note provides a descriptive assessment of the occupant fatality rate in fatal crashes as well as vehicles that rolled over, only a robust analysis that takes into consideration other vehicle, driver and environmental characteristics will provide a reliable 

assessment of the risk of fatality or rollover of the vehicles.  This will be the focus of future research work that will model the risk of rollover based on various characteristics like occupancy, travel speed and the size of the vehicle.  Also, vehicle size might play a large role in affecting the risk of fatality in multi-vehicle crashes.  This will also be studied and presented in future publications.  References NHTSA, National Center for Statistics and Analysis, “2004 Annual Assessment of Fatal Motor Vehicle Traffic Crashes,” Washington, DC, 2005. 

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