Tesla Becomes the Vehicle Brand with the Highest Accident Rate in the US

Tesla Model S. (Doc. Tesla)

JAKARTA - Tesla is known as a manufacturer of electric cars with high performance, advanced technology, and autonomous features. However, bad news befell Tesla towards the end of 2023 where no one thought that this US company would also carry the title of being the vehicle brand that has the highest accident rate in its own country.

Reporting from Paultan, Wednesday, December 20, according to the latest analysis from LendingTree from November 14, 2022 to November 14, 2023, Tesla drivers have been involved in 23.34 accidents per 1,000 drivers, the highest compared to other manufacturers.

Behind Tesla, Ram recorded 22.76 accidents per 1,000 drivers and Subaru recorded 20.90 accidents per 1,000 drivers.

This assessment is reinforced by the manufacturer being the target of a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recall in the US after the manufacturer had to recall more than two million units, starting from the 2012 Model S.

This problem was caused by the Autopilot system being the culprit in various incidents, where Teslas often collided with other vehicles stopped on the road, including fire trucks and police cars.

NHTSA in its investigation said that “the unique design of Tesla's Autopilot system may provide inadequate driver engagement and user control that could lead to misuse of the system.

This may increase the risk of an accident, in which Autopilot driver assistance is activated, but the driver does not maintain sufficient alertness to maintain responsibility for vehicle operation.

To address the issue, Tesla agreed to an over-the-air software update to its Autopilot driver feature, which has reportedly been designed to improve the car's ability to determine whether drivers using Tesla's Autopilot function are actually paying attention to the road and keeping their hands on the steering wheel.

Returning to LendingTree's analysis, in the driving incident rate measurement category, the Ram brand topped the list with 32.90 incidents per 1,000 drivers, followed by Tesla which achieved 31.13 incidents per 1,000 drivers, and Subaru which was below it with 30.09 incidents per 1,000 drivers.

In the driving under the influence category, BMW drivers top the list with the highest Driver Under Influence (DUI) rates in the US with 3.13 DUIs per driver. Then, Ram followed with 1.72 DUIs per 1,000 drivers and Subaru which had a value of 1.45 DUIs per 1,000 drivers.