Which Popular Cars Get Into Accidents Most Frequently?

Marketing platform Heepsy has put together a strange report: Out of the "most hyped cars on Instagram," which models are most frequently involved in accidents? The company pored over hashtags, sales figures and crash data to determine an odd metric: "Crashes per 10,000 Sold Cars."The data is fairly startling: The most-crashed car on the list is not a sports car, and has a crash margin that dwarfs the runner-up. The ignominious award goes to the Fiat 500, which clocked 968.6 crashes per 10,000 units sold. The distant runner-up is the BMW M5, with just 18.3 crashes. Crash frequency apparently has little to do with brand. While the M5 ranked second, its M3 stablemate is at the bottom of the list, with just 0.3 crashes. Chevy can claim bragging rights in the marketing and sales column. The Corvette is the most-hashtagged at 3,524,849 (crash rate 6.8), more than a million hashtags ahead of the number 2 Jeep Wrangler at 2,280,417 (crash rate 5.4). And Chevy's Silverado is the bestselling vehicle on the list, at 10,669,565 units moved (crash rate 9.0), with the Honda Civic coming in a distant second at 5,872,044 (crash rate 8.5). I can't get over the Fiat 500's far-and-away leading numbers for accidents, and am hungry for an explanation: Does that car attract inattentive drivers? Is it so small that it's difficult for other vehicles to see it? Or is it because the Fiat 500 is designed for congested urban environments, where fender benders are simply a fact of life?Image: Vladimir Vinogradov on Unsplash If you want to see the entire spreadsheet, it's here.

Mar 11, 2025 - 16:05

Which Popular Cars Get Into Accidents Most Frequently?

Marketing platform Heepsy has put together a strange report: Out of the "most hyped cars on Instagram," which models are most frequently involved in accidents? The company pored over hashtags, sales figures and crash data to determine an odd metric: "Crashes per 10,000 Sold Cars."

The data is fairly startling: The most-crashed car on the list is not a sports car, and has a crash margin that dwarfs the runner-up. The ignominious award goes to the Fiat 500, which clocked 968.6 crashes per 10,000 units sold.

The distant runner-up is the BMW M5, with just 18.3 crashes.

Crash frequency apparently has little to do with brand. While the M5 ranked second, its M3 stablemate is at the bottom of the list, with just 0.3 crashes.

Chevy can claim bragging rights in the marketing and sales column. The Corvette is the most-hashtagged at 3,524,849 (crash rate 6.8), more than a million hashtags ahead of the number 2 Jeep Wrangler at 2,280,417 (crash rate 5.4).

And Chevy's Silverado is the bestselling vehicle on the list, at 10,669,565 units moved (crash rate 9.0), with the Honda Civic coming in a distant second at 5,872,044 (crash rate 8.5).

I can't get over the Fiat 500's far-and-away leading numbers for accidents, and am hungry for an explanation: Does that car attract inattentive drivers? Is it so small that it's difficult for other vehicles to see it? Or is it because the Fiat 500 is designed for congested urban environments, where fender benders are simply a fact of life?

Image: Vladimir Vinogradov on Unsplash

If you want to see the entire spreadsheet, it's here.