Tesla remains the safest car brand despite 95 deaths due to Autopilot and fires

Incidents with Tesla electric cars have resulted in nearly 400 deaths. Despite this, Tesla remains the safest car brand.

Here's What We Know

This is reported by the publication Business Insider. It refers to the Tesla Deaths database, which takes into account accidents involving cars of the company of Elon Musk (Elon Musk), based on news and official statements of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

There are a total of 393 fatalities involving Tesla electric cars. However, the vast majority of deaths are related to hit-and-run and drunk driving, something no other car brands are immune from.

95 of the 393 deaths are related to electric vehicle fires and/or improper operation of the driver assistance system. Tesla Autopilot in particular accounts for 35 fatalities, which is about one in 11 of the total.

In 2016, the first fatal accident was recorded when the Model S flew at full throttle into a truck with a trailer. Three years later, the electric car crashed into a fire service vehicle, and another year later, the vehicle hit a man standing next to a truck.

It is also important to note that the number of accidents involving Tesla Autopilot has increased significantly in recent years. Specifically, 18 out of 35 people have been killed in accidents since the beginning of 2022. This is due to the increased availability of the Full Self-Drive feature. In 2021, approximately 12,000 car owners were using it, and by the end of 2022, that number had increased by more than 30 times.

In the last quarter of 2022, Ilon Musk's electric cars were involved in an accident an average of 0.2 times per 1 million miles with autopilot and about three times as often without autopilot. The U.S. average is one and a half accidents per 1 million miles.

Source: Business Insider