Most severe US complaints — death share leaders

Background

This ranking isolates US vehicle complaint records with the most severe reported outcomes, using death share as the lead measure. In this dataset, the highest death share belongs to the 2014 Tesla Model S at 1.68 across 537 complaints. That places it ahead of the 2015 Ford Transit at 1.53 across 261 complaints and the 2016 Ford Transit at 1.48 across 203 complaints.

The list is not a catalog of every vehicle on US roads, nor a measure of all crashes. It is a ranking of complaint populations in which the reported outcome included death, injury, crash, or fire. Read that way, it offers a narrow answer to broad reader questions such as which cars appear most dangerous in America: among the complaint groups shown here, the leaders are the models with the highest death share, not necessarily the highest complaint volume.

Tesla appears repeatedly in the upper tier, and the single highest entry is a Tesla. Ford, Kia, Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Infiniti, and Chrysler also appear. The model years range from 2014 to 2022, showing that the most severe complaint populations are not confined to one era or one powertrain type.

Death share leaders

The top entries by death share are shown below.

Rank	Make	Model	Year	Complaints	Death %
1	Tesla	Model S	2014	537	1.68
2	Ford	Transit	2015	261	1.53
3	Ford	Transit	2016	203	1.48
4	Ford	Fiesta	2016	253	1.19
5	Infiniti	Q50	2014	255	1.18
6	Toyota	Highlander	2022	268	1.12
7	Toyota	RAV4	2017	406	0.99
8	Tesla	Model X	2017	416	0.96
9	Chrysler	200	2014	312	0.96
10	Kia	Forte	2015	320	0.94

The headline result is straightforward: the 2014 Tesla Model S leads this complaint-based ranking. It is followed by 2 Ford Transit model years, then the 2016 Ford Fiesta and 2014 Infiniti Q50. The 2022 Toyota Highlander is the newest model year in the uppermost group, with a death share of 1.12.

Several entries combine a relatively high death share with a large complaint base. The 2016 Tesla Model S shows 1,002 complaints and a death share of 0.8. The 2019 Tesla Model 3 shows 1,008 complaints and a death share of 0.69. The 2014 Honda CR-V shows 789 complaints and a death share of 0.76, while the 2017 Honda Accord shows 748 complaints and a death share of 0.67. Those models do not lead the death-share table, but they stand out because severe outcomes appear within larger complaint pools.

What owners are reporting

Death share is the ranking metric, but the complaint records also include fire, crash, and injury shares. Those additional fields help explain why some vehicles surface in a “dangerous cars” discussion: many of the leaders also show elevated crash or injury shares, and some show notable fire shares.

The 2016 Tesla Model S is the clearest example of a model with broad severity across categories. It posts 15.37 crash, 6.09 injury, 2.3 fire, and 0.8 death across 1,002 complaints. The 2014 Tesla Model S also shows a strong severity profile, with 13.78 crash, 4.47 injury, 2.23 fire, and 1.68 death across 537 complaints.

The 2017 Toyota RAV4 is notable for a different reason. Its death share is 0.99, but its fire share reaches 10.1, the highest fire figure in this list. It also shows 13.05 crash and 9.11 injury across 406 complaints. That combination makes it one of the most severe entries overall, even though it does not top the death-share ranking.

The 2015 Nissan Versa also stands out on crash and injury. It shows 11.15 crash, 8.46 injury, 1.15 fire, and 0.77 death across 260 complaints. The 2014 Chrysler 200 shows 7.69 crash, 7.37 injury, 1.28 fire, and 0.96 death across 312 complaints. The 2016 Ford Fiesta shows 7.11 crash, 3.95 injury, 0.79 fire, and 1.19 death across 253 complaints.

Crash, injury, and fire patterns

Looking beyond death share, several models cluster near the top on crash share.

Make	Model	Year	Complaints	Crash %	Injury %	Fire %	Death %
Tesla	Model S	2016	1,002	15.37	6.09	2.3	0.8
Tesla	Model S	2014	537	13.78	4.47	2.23	1.68
Toyota	RAV4	2017	406	13.05	9.11	10.1	0.99
Tesla	Model 3	2020	731	12.86	5.61	0.68	0.68
Nissan	Versa	2015	260	11.15	8.46	1.15	0.77
Tesla	Model S	2021	271	10.33	0.37	0.74	0.74

This table shows that the vehicles with the highest death share are not always the same vehicles with the highest crash, injury, or fire shares. The 2014 Tesla Model S leads on death share, but the 2016 Tesla Model S leads on crash share. The 2017 Toyota RAV4 posts the highest fire share and one of the highest injury shares. The 2015 Nissan Versa also shows a severe crash-and-injury profile.

For readers asking why cars are dangerous, this dataset points to the overlap of severe complaint outcomes rather than to one single failure mode. Some models show high crash shares, some show high fire shares, and some show both. The complaint records do not explain causation in detail, but they do show where severe outcomes are concentrated.

Which makes appear most often

Tesla is the most visible make in this ranking. It appears with the 2014, 2016, and 2021 Model S, the 2017 Model X, and the 2019 and 2020 Model 3. That repeated presence matters because it spans several model years and several nameplates, not just one outlier entry.

Ford also appears more than once, with the 2015 and 2016 Transit and the 2016 Fiesta. Kia appears with the 2015 Forte, 2016 Sedona, 2017 Forte, and 2022 EV6. Toyota appears with the 2017 RAV4 and 2022 Highlander. Honda appears with the 2014 CR-V and 2017 Accord.

Among these repeated makes, the severity profiles differ. Tesla entries tend to pair high crash shares with moderate fire and injury shares, though the 2014 Model S also leads the death ranking. Ford’s Transit entries show death shares of 1.53 and 1.48, with the 2016 Transit also posting 4.93 crash and 4.93 injury. Kia’s entries are more mixed: the 2015 Forte shows 6.56 fire and 6.56 crash, while the 2022 EV6 shows 0.0 fire, 6.16 crash, 1.72 injury, and 0.74 death.

That spread is important when readers ask for the “most dangerous cars.” There is no single universal answer in this dataset. There is a death-share leader, a fire-share leader, and a crash-share leader, and they are not all the same vehicle.

When the failure appears

The model years in this ranking run from 2014 through 2022. Early entries are common, especially 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017. Those years include the 2014 Tesla Model S, 2014 Infiniti Q50, 2014 Chrysler 200, 2014 Honda CR-V, 2015 Ford Transit, 2015 Kia Forte, 2015 Nissan Versa, 2016 Ford Transit, 2016 Ford Fiesta, 2016 Kia Sedona, and 2016 Tesla Model S.

Later years also appear, including the 2017 Toyota RAV4, 2017 Tesla Model X, 2017 Kia Forte, 2017 Honda Accord, 2019 Tesla Model 3, 2020 Tesla Model 3, 2021 Tesla Model S, and 2022 Toyota Highlander and Kia EV6. That distribution suggests severe complaint outcomes are not limited to older vehicles in this list.

Still, the highest death-share leader is from 2014, and several of the strongest death-share entries are from 2014 through 2016. At the same time, newer models remain present. The 2022 Toyota Highlander records 1.12 death across 268 complaints, and the 2022 Kia EV6 records 0.74 death across 406 complaints. The 2021 Tesla Model S records 0.74 death across 271 complaints.

Severity outcomes in context

A complaint-based severity ranking can answer “how dangerous are cars” only in a limited way. It can show which complaint populations contain the highest shares of reported death, injury, crash, and fire. It cannot show the risk faced by every owner or every mile driven.

Within that narrow frame, the most severe complaint populations here are clear. The 2014 Tesla Model S leads on death share at 1.68. The 2016 Tesla Model S leads on crash share at 15.37. The 2017 Toyota RAV4 leads on fire share at 10.1 and also posts 9.11 injury. The 2015 Nissan Versa shows 11.15 crash and 8.46 injury. The 2014 Infiniti Q50 shows 8.63 crash, 4.71 injury, 1.96 fire, and 1.18 death.

Some entries show lower death share but broad severity across the other fields. The 2019 Tesla Model 3 records 9.62 crash, 2.38 injury, 0.99 fire, and 0.69 death across 1,008 complaints. The 2020 Tesla Model 3 records 12.86 crash, 5.61 injury, 0.68 fire, and 0.68 death across 731 complaints. The 2017 Honda Accord records 7.89 crash, 4.41 injury, 2.14 fire, and 0.67 death across 748 complaints.

Limitations

This dataset is about complaints with severe outcomes, not a full safety census. It does not include exposure measures such as registrations, miles, or fleet size. It also does not identify a global ranking, so it cannot answer questions about the most dangerous cars in the world. It is limited to US complaints.

It also does not provide a list of the safest cars of 2024, the most safe cars of 2024, or any equivalent ranking. No 2024 safest-vehicle findings are present here, and no comparison to all vehicles is available.

Another limitation is that complaint counts vary widely. Some entries have 203 complaints, such as the 2016 Ford Transit, while others have 1,008 complaints, such as the 2019 Tesla Model 3. That means the ranking should be read as a list of complaint populations with severe reported outcomes, not as a universal statement about every example of a given model.

Frequently asked questions

Q: Which vehicle leads this ranking? A: The 2014 Tesla Model S leads, with 537 complaints and a death share of 1.68.

Q: Which models are next after the leader? A: After the 2014 Tesla Model S, the next entries are the 2015 Ford Transit at 1.53 and the 2016 Ford Transit at 1.48.

Q: Which vehicle shows the highest fire share? A: The 2017 Toyota RAV4 has the highest fire share in this list at 10.1, alongside 13.05 crash and 9.11 injury across 406 complaints.

Q: Which vehicle shows the highest crash share? A: The 2016 Tesla Model S has the highest crash share at 15.37, with 6.09 injury, 2.3 fire, and 0.8 death across 1,002 complaints.

Q: Are newer vehicles included in the severe-outcome list? A: Yes. The list includes the 2021 Tesla Model S at 0.74 death, the 2022 Toyota Highlander at 1.12, and the 2022 Kia EV6 at 0.74.

Q: Does this dataset identify the safest cars of 2024? A: No. The findings cover US complaints with severe outcomes and do not provide a 2024 safest-cars ranking.