- Tesla drivers ranked the worst in terms of reported incidents in 2024, according to insurance agency LendingTree.
- The number of accidents, DUI and speeding cases reported by Tesla drivers to insurers increased substantially in 2024 over the year before.
- Mercury, Pontiac and Cadillac drivers had the fewest reported incidents last year.
Teslas may be among the safest vehicles on the road for crashworthiness, but that doesn’t make them immune from lousy driving. A new study ranked Tesla drivers as the worst in the U.S. in 2024, surpassing Ram from the year before.
Insurance agency LendingTree analyzed 30 car brands based on insurance inquiries from January to December 2024. Tesla drivers had 36.94 reported incidents per 1,000 drivers—up from 31.93 in 2023—making them the worst on the road. The term "incidents" covers accidents, DUIs, speeding and citations.
Ram wasn’t far behind, ranking second overall but taking the top spot for worst drivers in most states (16). Meanwhile, Tesla drivers fared the worst in 11 states. Ram drivers averaged 33.92 incidents but did poorly in states like New Jersey (74.2) and California (70.78). Subaru rounded out the top three with 32.85 incidents for every 1,000 drivers.
“Our analysis was based on generalized insurance inquiry data, which includes a wide range of incidents reported by drivers when filing for insurance,” a LendingTree spokesperson told InsideEVs. The study does not “[delve] into the specific circumstances or technologies involved in each case,” the spokesperson added.
While federal data points to traffic fatalities declining in the first nine months of 2024, some troubling trends have emerged that increase overall danger, especially at night. Factors behind this include rising pedestrian deaths, increased distracted driving, and Americans’ love for massive trucks and SUVs, which cause visibility issues.
The Insurance Institute For Highway Safety (IIHS) notes that increased cell phone use is a leading cause of distracted driving, making drivers frequently look away from the road.
Then there’s Tesla’s Autopilot and its misleadingly labeled Full-Self Driving driver assistance system. It's been linked to hundreds of crashes, several of them fatal. CEO Elon Musk is pushing to remove the federal crash reporting requirements for automated systems, which could fracture the government’s ability to regulate vehicle safety.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, Mercury, Pontiac and Cadillac drivers had the fewest reported incidents. Ford discontinued Mercury in 2011, whereas General Motors phased out Pontiac around the same time. So their high rankings likely stem from fewer cars rolling on the roads today.
The study also found that Pontiac drivers had the highest DUI rate (3.11 per 1,000), followed by BMW (2.57) and Tesla (2.23).
None of this is to say that Teslas are unsafe structurally. It's the opposite. The Model Y has earned an IIHS Top Safety Pick+ every year since its debut. The Model 3 won that award between 2018 and 2022. But, none of that matters if drivers are reckless or treat Level 2 tech as if it’s fully autonomous.
Several studies indicate that Tesla drivers aren't using the systems as intended. A November 2024 study from automotive research and data firm iSeeCars found Tesla’s fatal accident rate was more than double the average per billion miles driven.
While ADAS can take the stress out of driving in certain conditions, it's not a reason for complacency—not until officially certified for SAE Level 4 or above on the autonomy scale. Tesla FSD is certified as a Level 2 system currently, which by definition requires full driver supervision.
Automakers have made tremendous gains over the past decade in making cars safer in terms of design and crashworthiness. Now, the challenge lies in making drivers safer, too.
Do you work at Tesla and have a story to share? Contact the author suvrat.kothari@insideevs.com. We're also happy to speak securely and anonymously; reach me from a non-work device via Signal at suvratk.74.
