Small cars bring higher risk while SUVs are safer, insurance-group study finds

As late as 2007, parents were warned against buying their driving-age teens SUVs because of the rollover risk. Now it seems those are some of the safest rides on the road, according to an Insurance Institute for Highway Safety study released on Thursday.

The Nissan 350Z sports car and the Titan pickup were on the low end of the list, along with the Chevrolet Aveo and the compact Cobalt sedan.

The group's analysis ran from 2006 to 2009, which covered model years 2005-2008, and indicated an average rate of 48 deaths per million registered vehicles on the road.

By vehicle category, minivans had the lowest death rate at 25 deaths per million. SUVs were next at 28 deaths per million, followed by 52 per million for pickup trucks and 56 per million for cars.

The 350Z had 143 deaths per million over the course of the study. The Audi A6, the Mercedes-Benz E-class and the Toyota Sienna had zero deaths per million in the time period, as did the Ford Edge, the Nissan Armada, the Land Rover Range Rover and the LR3.

Driver death rates dropped from the last analysis in 2007, mostly likely because of the proliferation of electronic driver aids such as stability control, traction control and rollover protection, according to the IIHS. The federal government has mandated that all vehicles need to have stability control by 2012.

The institute's study shows that such systems reduce fatal single-vehicle crash risk by 49 percent and fatal multiple-vehicle crash risk by 20 percent.

Automakers also have changed their tactics when designing tall SUVs. Most companies have made their SUVs less likely to rollover by lowering the chassis. Many now build their utility vehicles on car frames instead of truck architecture.

The statistics are adjusted, according to the IIHS, for other data that affect crash rates such as age, gender and vehicle age.

By Jake Lingeman