Body Count

Pickup Trucks Account for 1 in 5 Traffic Deaths in America

Axle McScatter • Clautomotive Desk

March 8, 2026

☕ 2 min read

I ran the numbers. Then I ran them again. They didn’t get better. 41,593 people died in crashes involving pickup trucks between 2014 and 2023, accounting for 21.8% of all 191,193 fatalities in the FARS database. One in five traffic deaths in America involves a pickup.

9,591

Chevrolet Silverado fatalities — the single deadliest vehicle in the FARS database

The Chevrolet Silverado sits atop the entire FARS dataset with 9,591 deaths over the decade. The Ford F-150 is right behind at 9,194. Together, just these two trucks account for more deaths than the Honda Accord, Civic, and Toyota Camry — the three deadliest sedans — combined. The top three pickups (Silverado, F-150, Dodge Ram at 4,407) racked up 23,192 deaths versus 19,983 for the top three sedans.

But here’s the twist that makes this story complicated rather than simple: per mile driven, most full-size pickups are actually less deadly than the average sedan. The F-150 posts a rate of 1.04 deaths per 100 million VMT. The Silverado is 1.25. The Ram is just 0.78. Compare that to the Honda Accord at 3.07 or the Nissan Altima at 2.88.

The sheer body count is a function of volume. America registers an estimated 6.6 million F-150s and 5.7 million Silverados. They drive more miles per year than sedans (13,500 vs. 11,500 on average). Multiply a low-ish rate by an enormous fleet and enormous mileage, and you get an enormous pile of fatalities.

The small trucks tell a different story. The Chevrolet S-10 posts 4.83 deaths per 100M VMT — nearly four times the F-150’s rate. The Ford Ranger hits 2.91. The Dodge Dakota, 2.62. These are older, lighter trucks with fewer modern safety features and a fleet that skews toward younger, less affluent drivers. The safety gap between a 2004 Ranger and a 2024 F-150 is a generation of crumple zones, airbags, and electronic stability control.

The data forces an uncomfortable question: should we judge a vehicle by how many people it kills in total, or by how deadly it is per mile? By the first metric, pickup trucks are America’s deadliest vehicle class. By the second, they’re among the safest. Both are true. Neither is the whole story.

Source: NHTSA FARS 2014–2023. Death counts include all fatal crashes involving the specified vehicle model; not all deaths are occupants of that vehicle. VMT estimates use industry fleet and mileage assumptions. See methodology for caveats.